


Perfectly Balanced

by Tactician404



Category: DCU, Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, Naruto
Genre: Action & Romance, Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie) Spoilers, Crossover, F/M, Infinity Gems, Manga & Anime, Multi, Superheroes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-01
Updated: 2019-10-31
Packaged: 2021-01-15 23:21:34
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 12
Words: 58,632
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21261299
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tactician404/pseuds/Tactician404
Summary: My attempt at turning a cliche concept i.e a seventh Infinity Stone, into an enjoyable fanfiction. The Naruto world and superhero universe come together to face a common enemy. The God of a Grateful Universe, Thanos.





	1. Enter Naruto Uzumaki

**A short summary of 'Perfectly Balanced'. This is an anime/superhero crossover fanfic but it's centred around the Naruto World. The shinobi of the Naruto World join forces with the heroes of the Marvel/DC universe to stop Thanos who is a growing threat thanks to his sudden need for the seven Infinity Stones.**

**Rated Explicit. Warnings include violence, swearing, blood, character death, lemons and lime, and dark scenes… if you haven't watched Infinity War I don't recommend reading this fic.**

* * *

-Naruto Uzumaki- Normal Text

-"Naruto Uzumaki"- Normal Speech

-_"Naruto Uzumaki"_\- Thoughts or Flashback

-**"Naruto Uzumaki"**\- Demon/Creature Speech

-"**Naruto Uzumaki**"- Jinchuuriki Speech

-_Nine Years Later – Konoha_\- Passage of Time and Change of Scene

* * *

Power. Space. Reality. Soul. Time. Mind. Dimension. The seven pillars of existence that existed in the forms of gems long before the creation of any universe. After the Big Bangs these Stones were spread across the universes, never to make contact, and even though six of the seven were trapped in one universe it was believed that these tiny stones were so well-guarded and hard to find that the universe would collapse in on themselves before anyone got their hands on all seven. At least, that was until the God of a Perfectly Balanced Universe decided to start searching.

_Unknown Time – Unknown Place_

"Rasengan!" from the darkness came light, and from that light came energy.

An injured blonde young adult jumped away from a massive explosion. He landed upright with kunai knife in one hand, and a spiralling orb of energy in the other. Dust surrounded him. His eyes darted around in their sockets. Everything was black. He coughed up some blood.

"What is your name?" a bellow came from within the darkness.

The young man wiped some blood away from his chin, it splattered on his orange jumpsuit, "My name is the one and only Naruto Uzumaki, the next Hokage of the Leaf dattebayo," he exclaimed raising his arm above his head to create a large shuriken of white energy.

"Well… Naruto Uzumaki. Strength has gotten you thus far at least," the voice approached.

Light started to seep into Naruto's eyes.

The figure speaking was tall, broad and built like a tank. Naruto watched the behemoth of a man walk over the rotting bodies of some of his closest comrades. Neji Hyuuga, Shino Aburame, Shikamaru Nara, Hinata Hyuuga, and Sasuke Uchiha. His eyes flashed red. He prepared himself for an attack.

"What have you done to them?" he asked.

"I have liberated them from this universe… if I wasn't on a mission I would've joined them," the man continued to approach.

"Well I'm on a mission too dattebayo, and it revolves around eliminating you!" Naruto tossed the Rasenshuriken. It disappeared as soon as it left his hand. The voice chuckled.

"Foolish," a metallic golden glove reached through the darkness and wrapped itself around Naruto's thick neck. Air left his body quickly, "You do not have what it takes to kill a god."

"Naruto!"

The blonde awoke with a fright. With no air in his lungs he reached out for the nearest stable object, a pink-haired medical kunoichi and Naruto's biggest crush. The concerned woman rushed to console the Jinchuuriki.

"It was just a dream! It was just a dream," she repeated. He wasn't having any of it. Never had a dream felt so real in his life. "Naruto!" she screamed.

Two more figures rushed to the mednin's aid.

"What happened?" a pineapple-headed genius asked.

"He had a nightmare," Sakura whispered softly. She gently rocked Naruto like a toddler to calm him down. She could feel Naruto's shudder as she pulled him closer.

Shikamaru leaned in to place a caring palm on Naruto's shoulder.

Sai stood up and shrugged, "What a pussy! Heroes aren't supposed to get nightmares."

"Ai! Naruto's still human," Shikamaru roared.

"If I wasn't holding him in my arms I would've slapped you by now," Sakura became defensive. She waited for Naruto's breathing to ease before placing him on his makeshift bed. All three shinobi stood around the sweaty blood.

Shikamaru looked to the east and said, "We're closer to Konoha than I thought. Five more minutes and we can rest in our own beds, maybe then we can get a good night's sleep," he glanced back down to Naruto who had sat up and was now staring into the distance.

The genius folded his arms and told Sakura to calm down too, "Humans generally tend to forget the details of their dreams after ten minutes so we can let him sit there for a while, he'll be okay. After all it was just a dream."

Sai smiled, "Yes, we might as well start packing our equipment," he said before retreating to his tent to grab his supplies.

* * *

**PERFECTLY BALANCED**

**CHAPTER ONE**

**Enter Naruto Uzumaki**

* * *

_Twenty Minutes Later – Konohagakure_

It had been a year since the Fourth Great Shinobi World War had come to an end. Even though he'd been acquitted for all his crimes Sasuke decided he still deserved to be punished after the war so he opted to venture out into the world for a year to atone for his sins, redeem himself and to learn more about the Otsutsuki Clan. Seeing that the village was going to be Sasuke-less for a year and that Kakashi was nominated as the Sixth Hokage instead of him, Naruto decided to go on his own journey of atonement, which was made of a victory lap around all Five Great Shinobi Nations and a quest to the ruins of Uzushiogakure to see what remained of his people. Unlike Sasuke though, who left the village alone, Naruto had to take with him his three greatest comrades, Sakura, Sai and Shikamaru, for company.

The Konoha air was crispy and cold, which was to be expected since the sun had just risen. Three quarters of the village was probably still consumed by sleep and the other quarter were a few shinobi heading home to sleep after a night watch. Konoha was eerily quiet, a silence they'd gotten used to after 365 days without a Naruto prank or a Naruto-Sasuke battle or a major battle that would take out half the city. The large city sat silently under the gaze of the six Hokage faces (Hashirama, Tobirama, Hiruzen, Minato, Tsunade and a half-finished Kakashi).

"KONOHA! I'M BACK DATTEBAYO!"

Sakura smacked Naruto.

"Wake everyone up why don't you," she whispered angrily. A few lights popped on in houses near the gate. Citizens and shinobi alike, in their pyjamas, made their way out of their houses to check on the loudmouthed blonde. He was proud to be back in the city that raised him.

"Oi! Naruto! Welcome back!"

"Naruto! Good to see you!"

"SHUT UP! I'M TRYING TO SLEEP!"

"Naruto's back!"

Shikamaru tapped the whiskered idiot's shoulder, "I'm gonna get going. It's quite a drag but Temari promised me she'd meet me at home when I got back," pineapple head explained. Naruto nodded before giving Shikamaru a big hug, "Don't forget to tell Kakashi-sama that we returned safely."

"Will do," the blonde smirked.

The four-man cell split up. Sai left the group to go check on his flat near the central business district. Naruto turned to Sakura.

The pink-head spread her arms out in front of him. Naruto gladly accepted the hug. He was a few inches taller than her so in order to get his arms around her waist he had to bend his knees a bit, which gave him the chance to rest his head on her shoulder. After the war, Sakura, who wasn't as annoyed at Naruto as before, had hugged him over a thousand times. But… this one felt special. It felt lasting. He never wanted to let go. Almost as if… she could turn to dust in his arms.

"I love you," he admitted.

Sakura backed up and smiled. She looked so beautiful with her pink hair brushed to the left like that, with short hair that barely touched her collar and a bright blue diamond in the centre of her larger than average forehead. His blue eyes met her green eyes for what seemed like hours. Her smile grew, she finally replied, "Naruto-kun, let's not play that game again. I love Sasuke, and when we get back we'll get married. Your love should be focused on Hinata, now go look for her, you big oaf," she punched his shoulder.

She was so smart. "Yeah, you're right… I don't know what I'd do without you Sakura-chan."

"Well you'll have to learn," Sakura began to cry as her skin turned brown and bits of her flesh turned to dust.

"What?" his heart began to race.

"Huh?" he blinked her back to normal. Sakura tilted her head before placing a hand on his forehead, "You're a bit warm. You should probably go tell Kakashi-sensei about the mission then run home for some rest and relaxation. See you," she kissed him on the cheek before running off.

"Yeah," Naruto agreed with himself, "But first I need to stop off at Ichiraku's for some good old ramen."

Naruto walked through the streets of Konoha as the sun began to heat up the ground and people began to exit their homes for a breath of fresh air.

"Hi Naruto."

"Welcome back."

"Oi Naruto, come by for a drink when you have the time."

Naruto heard it all as he made his way towards the little booth which had grown into a little restaurant. He loved hearing people praise him especially after the years of torture he'd gone through as a child. Naruto realised that most of the people worshipping him were probably the same people spitting on his brittle body eleven years ago, but he didn't care. They loved him. Everyone loved him now. Especially Hinata.

"Hinata," Naruto pushed open the glass door and walked into Ichiraku's Ramen Restaurant. The nineteen-year-old woman was sitting at one of the booths with a familiar brown-haired rebel and his matured white four-legged companion, "Kiba, good to see you too," Naruto strutted in.

Ayame, who probably worked morning shifts, looked nervous behind her counter. She stopped stacking the bowls to focus on the whiskered blonde as he strolled through the cosy brown wooden restaurant.

"Naruto," she cleared her throat.

"Hey Ayame, I see even without my daily ramen you still managed to earn enough money to renovate," Naruto chuckled.

"Considering how you weren't paying for any of the ramen, it actually makes sense," Ayame laughed before glancing at Hinata and Kiba. Naruto turned to the trio. He fistbumped an anxious Kiba and a carefree Akamaru before focusing on Hinata.

"Hey Hina-hime, can I talk to you in private?"

The duo moved to a booth, three booths away. Naruto invited her to sit but she chose to stand instead. Naruto decided to stand too. He placed his hands on his hips and stared into her lilac eyes.

"I'm back Hina-hime, and I'm here to honour the agreement we made a year ago."

Before leaving Hinata made Naruto promise to come back and see how things went between the two of them. At times that promise was what kept Naruto alive, the idea that a potential wife and mother was waiting for him back home.

"Our agreement?" she blushed.

"Our agreement," he reached for tiny hand, but she pulled away from him. There was something she was trying to hide. Hinata looked down and whispered something, "What?" Naruto asked.

"Our agreement…"

Naruto was still full of enthusiasm, "Yeah dattebayo, our agreement. I made a promise to come back to Konoha and make you my wife and here I am… but you don't look so happy to see me," he noticed. She whispered something again, "What?" he repeated.

"A promise," she began to shake. Her eyes teared up.

"Hina-chan?"

"I made a mistake," her voice broke.

"Hinata?" the honorifics fade. He reached out for her hand again. It was cold to the touch, so they both pulled away, "What's wrong?"

"I'm sorry," she began to tremble, "But you were gone for a year… and a lot can happen in a year."

Naruto grabbed her hand one last time and felt the cold metal around her left ring finger. Hinata didn't bother looking up. Naruto turned to Kiba, who was also looking down at his empty bowl.

He struggled to formulate sentences, "How long…"

"Naru-chan, we can st-,"

"How long until the wedding?" he asked aloud. Ayame dropped a bowl. Kiba dropped his head onto the table. Akamaru began cleaning his groin with his tongue. Another costumer, seating near the door, placed some money on the table and walked out.

"F-four months," she whispered.

"Oh… well… I'm happy for you. All I want in life is to see my friends happy. Of course," Naruto relaxed. He stepped back, away from Hinata. Finally, the matured Hyuuga woman looked up into Naruto's eyes. They were red. Not because of the Nine Tails though. The red had drained from his face and gathered in his eyes as he held the tears in, "It's good," he nodded.

"I need to go home," Naruto looked at the clock on the wall.

"Naruto," she reached for his hand. This time _he_ pulled away.

"I… I'm tired Hinata. I need to go home," he began walking, "Congratulations," he muttered as he passed Kiba.

Naruto made it to the Namikaze Compound without crying. He passed three large buildings before getting to the main house. He removed the genjutsu, the airtight seal and unlocked the door. He unsealed all his clothes and items before walking up two flights of stairs to his father's old room, the master bedroom. All without crying. He landed on the silk bed sheets and looked up at the high ceiling without shedding a tear.

"I'm not going to cry over a woman," he told himself.

"**Yes you are."**

"Yes I am."

He cried himself to sleep.

* * *

_Not Even An Hour Later – Namikaze Compound_

"Naruto!"

The tired blonde's bloodshot eyes opened.

Shikamaru stood over him with a bored expression on his face, "I thought you told Kakashi we were back in the village," the genius said.

"Sorry, something came up," he cleared his throat.

"It doesn't matter. You're needed at the Hokage Mansion. Clean yourself up," Shikamaru rushed Naruto into the bathroom and out the door. The village's top two shinobi dashed across the town to the mansion near one corner of the city. Upon opening the door to the Hokage's room Naruto noticed four muscular men standing in front of the silver-haired Kage.

One man was wearing an expensive-looking suit with a pair of shades, a goatee and well-kempt brown hair. He stood next to a more physically gifted blonde man with blue eyes, a tight white shirt and long beige pants. The man next to him was also wearing a black suit with a five o'clock shadow, brown hair and a paler complexion. And the last man, built like a tank, had nice brown hair, dark brown eyes, a chiselled jawline and a pair of glasses that made him look a little nerdy.

"Ah. Tony, Steve, Bruce, Clark… meet the man you've been looking for. Enter Naruto Uzumaki."

The blonde walked in and gulped. The four men folded their arms and turned to each other, "What can he do?" the one with a goatee, presumably Tony, asked.

Kakashi smirked behind his mask, "Make a mess of any bad guy's plans."

* * *

_Unknown Time – Somewhere In The Marvel Universe_

"I know what it's like to lose. To feel so desperately that you're right, yet to fail nonetheless… it's frightening, turns the legs to jelly. I ask you to what end? Dread it. Run from it. Destiny still arrives all the same. And now it's here," a tall muscular figure manoeuvred around piles of dead bodies to pick up a tiny purple stone, "Or should I say, I am," he broke an orb with his bare hand, then slotted the purple gem into the index knuckle of his golden gauntlet. The power flowed through him.

"The Power Stone is mine."

* * *

**Until next time.**


	2. A Konoha Night

The easternmost room in the Hokage Mansion was a large boardroom-like chamber with a rectangular wooden table that could seat up to twenty-two people. This was where Kakashi held his meeting with the Konoha Councilmen and women. Today, he was holding another meeting, but not with the Council, today the boardroom was filled with more important people.

Kakashi walked in being followed by eight straight-faced figures: Ino, Naruto, Shikamaru, Sakura, Hanabi, Chouji, Konohamaru and Temari. Kakashi sat at the chair along the rectangle's breadth whilst the eight shinobi sat along one side of the table. The other side was occupied by Tony Stark, Bruce Wayne, Steve Rogers, Clark Kent, T'Challa, Stephen Strange, Bruce Banner, Diana Prince and Peter Parker, in that order. The Hokage cleared his throat.

He started off by introducing the shinobi to the universe's guests, "Guys, these are the superheroes. They are a group of remarkable people with the ability to do remarkable things. The goatee over here is Tony Stark aka Iron Man; the billionaire next to him is Bruce Wayne aka the Batman; the blonde is Steve Rogers or Captain America; then we have, with the curl, Clark Kent also goes by the name Superman; His Highness over there is T'Challa or the Black Panther; followed by a Master of the Mystic Arts, Dr Stephen Strange; Bruce Banner, apparently he can turn green; the Amazonian Goddess, Diana Prince or Wonder Woman; and our friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man, Peter Parker."

"Hey everyone," Peter greeted.

"Ladies and gentlemen," he turned to the heroes to introduce them to his shinobi, "These are the most trusted individuals in my handbook. Ino, leader of the Yamanaka Clan; Shikamaru, leader of the Nara Clan; Naruto, the leader of both the Namikaze and Uzumaki Clan, and the hero of the Fourth Shinobi World War; Sakura Haruno, if all goes well the co-leader of the Uchiha Clan; Hanabi, the heiress of the Hidden's Leaf's strongest clan, the Hyuuga clan; Chouji, the next leader of the Akimichi Clan; Konohamaru, the harbinger of the Sarutobi Clan; and Temari, Suna's ambassador in Konoha…"

The doors flew open as one more man strolled into the room like the badass he thought he was.

Kakashi moved his chair back as he stood, "Oh yes, perfect timing," everyone turned to the young man as he approached the table, "Sasuke, the last remaining member of the Uchiha Clan. Welcome to the table."

"Good to be here," the emo teen unsheathed his blade before placing it carefully on the table in front of his seat. Both Kakashi and Sasuke took their seat. Naruto's posture changed when he saw the older man enter the room. Sasuke had changed so much… he even wore a poncho. And Sasuke hated ponchos.

The meeting began.

* * *

**PERFECTLY BALANCED**

**CHAPTER TWO**

**A Konoha Night**

* * *

"Yes, yes, welcome, welcome all," Dr Strange shifted in his chair, "Every second wasted is a second too long when facing Thanos. We need to devise a strategy immediately, we need men watching the skies and we need your strongest w-,"

Sasuke raised his hand.

"war… y… yes?" Dr Strange turned to the single-armed shinobi.

"This… Thanos character?" Sasuke wanted to make sure he was saying the name correctly.

"Yes, Thanos."

"Yeah, why should we care?" the heroes paused… they all turned to Sasuke with interest, "My power alone can kill people in seconds, my Susanoo, in its perfection, is destruction itself, and when my Susanoo coats Naruto's Kurama… our strength is planetary to say the least."

Naruto blushed upon mention of his name. Sakura grinned, "He's right you know," she commented.

Dr Strange raised an eyebrow.

"… I like this guy," Peter laughed. Tony glared at his trainee, "No… um… that's a very unprofessional thing to say," he deepened his voice, folded his arms and sat back on his leather seat.

"I love the confidence, it's impressive. Sure, in his current state Thanos could be destroyed by any one of us, but he's searching for the seven Infinity Stones, of which he already has one according to my intel, and if he obtains all of them his strength won't be planetary, it'll be multi-dimensional," Strange explained.

"Why us?" Shikamaru asked.

"Excuse me?" Tony didn't hear his question.

"You make this guy seem like the God of Death or something, so why call us if there are stronger warriors out there?" Shikamaru repeated. In actuality, he was just too lazy to risk his life for these people. I mean, they were walking around in tights and capes.

Dr Strange answered with some wisdom, "Because your world was chosen. The final Stone Thanos needs to succeed with his plans is located by the two massive statues to the north. The multiverse chose your world to stop Thanos, we need to set up the Alamo here if shit hits the fan… and I feel like it will."

Steve folded his arms and whispered, "Where's Thor?" across Bruce Wayne to Tony.

The billionaire was still a little pissed off but that didn't stop him from replying, "I thought he would've been with you," Tony looked around.

"Naruto!" Kakashi spoke. The blonde looked up, "You've been quiet. Any ideas?"

Everyone turned to the whiskered blonde and as he looked up they both sat back on their chairs. Naruto looked in bad shape: his normally pink fleshy skin was a sickly pale, and shallow purple bags were forming under his eyes, and he looked so hungry and tired with his orange jumpsuit sagging sadly from his frame.

"Naruto?"

"Huh?" he looked around.

"What's on your mind?" Kakashi was worried.

"Uh… huh?" Naruto sat up and cleared his throat, "Just… things and stuff."

"If you're not at 100-,"

"I'm okay! I've always been okay!"

"Oka-ay," Ino awkwardly remarked.

Mr Wayne turned to Kakashi, "If your strongest warrior isn't mentally fit then-,"

"Naruto is the fittest person we have, mentally and physically!" Shikamaru protected his companion.

"He's shaking!" Bruce Wayne yelled.

"I'm the strongest person this world has to offer," Sasuke growled.

"Don't yell at my shinobi!" Kakashi yelled back.

"He's shaking," Clark was a lot more concerned.

Sasuke stood up, "I have become the blade, point me to this Thanos, unsheathe me and see what happens," Sasuke grabbed his new sword, which had a black and blue hilt with an Uchiha charm tied to the hilt.

"Go Sasuke!" Sakura's fangirl mode kicked in.

"Hey, hey, maybe we should just grab the final Stone and go back to our own universe. You know, so we don't bother these innocent people," Bruce Banner said.

"That's not a bad plan," Shikamaru said under the chaotic screaming.

"Bruce, you where the last person to see Thor, weren't you?" Steve asked.

"No," Wayne reacted first, until he remembered there was a second Bruce in the room. Banner's voice was drowned out by the constant shouting.

"There is no signal here," Tony said pressing his finger against his earpiece.

"We are going nowhere," T'Challa realised.

"Why not wait for Thanos to fall asleep and steal these Stones from him?" Ino asked.

"You really are blonde," Hanabi rolled her white eyes.

"WE DON'T KNOW WHERE THANOS IS!" Dr Strange silenced the room.

Tony looked over at him, "What?"

"We've lost, potentially, the most powerful maniac in the multiverse and we're unable to find him and stop him so there's no point in arguing and, in fact, arguing makes it worse than actually co-operating because the less people there are to stop Thanos the better for him." Dr Strange explained.

Kakashi thought for a second, "Well, in case this Thanos does come to our world and try to take the Stone, it's best you guys stay in the village until we can find him."

"Oh wait, if that's the case then there's an issue," Tony raised his hand.

"Yes?"

"There's more of us. We have a few people on the outskirts who we didn't want to enter the town with," he explained.

"How many?" the silver-haired Kage asked.

"A couple of teenagers, how many are there?" Tony asked Clark, who started counting on his fingers.

"It doesn't matter," Naruto said, "They can stay in my compound."

* * *

_About An Hour Later – Namikaze Compound Gates_

Naruto waited inside the Namikaze Compound for the adults to bring their younger companions. He sat next to the large koi pond with his eyes fixated on his sickly reflection. He was… depressed. Hinata had really gotten to him, as much as he tried to stop it from doing so. She had a grip on him. He wished he never found out about her love in the first place. He grabbed a pebble.

The heavenly alloy gates creaked open as Naruto wiped the tears away. Tony walked in first. Naruto had lost track of time. The evening sun had begun to set meaning a full day had passed since he arrived in the village. He looked back at the Compound which was in darkness that made the set of buildings look ugly and worn out. Naruto dropped the stone in the water. It sank.

"Wow, this place is huge, but… I could do better," Tony took his sunglasses off as he walked in with T'Challa (who was dressed in more traditional regal clothing), "I'm glad I won't be staying here," he didn't realise how insensitive that sounded and Naruto didn't really care. "Come in," the goateed man yelled.

"We have Conner – Superboy, M'gann – Miss Martian, Artemis, Wally – Kid Flash, you know none of the people staying with you other than Peter are from my universe so let them introduce themselves," Tony put his glasses back on and exited as the last of the teenagers walked in, "Step aside I'm more important than you."

T'Challa walked up to the sickly looking blonde with a shorter young lady. He introduced her specifically, "Naruto Namikaze-Uzumaki-,"

"Call me just Uzumaki, Your Highness."

"Well Just Uzumaki, this is my sister, Shuri," the king said.

"Nice to meet you, Princess Shuri," he respectfully bowed a little.

"She's not really a pri-,"

Shuri elbowed her brother to shut him up, Shuri smiled, "Princess Shuri is humbled by your respect, Just Uzumaki."

T'Challa continued, "Our mother, the Queen, told me to guard her intensely… make sure she doesn't get into too much trouble," the African leader of men joked before leaving.

Naruto nodded at the 'princess' before walking to the mob of teenagers. Naruto didn't think of himself as a hopeless romantic, but as soon as he got a good look at a specific woman in the crowd of superheroes, his heartache died away. _"Here we go again,"_ he thought. Naruto didn't know her name, but a rose by any other name smells just as sweet… right. Her skin was a rosy peach, but had a tint of grey, with a mixture between a muscular figure and an hourglass figure, and these intoxicatingly large blue eyes. She looked so mesmerising with her blonde hair flowing in the cool Konoha night air.

"Wow, dude, you have like your own little town," Peter walked past Naruto, "I mean it's a little rundown but… it's still cool. I also have a little town, it's also a little rundown, but it's still cool, well it's actually a big city and it's called New York… well it's not actually mine I just live in it."

Naruto wasn't even paying attention to the spider. He walked to the gate and placed his hand on a chakra seal. The paper scroll lit up causing each building to light up one-by-one. The light turned the rundown little town into a lively mini-city with ten beautiful well-lit white buildings leading to one large mansion in the centre.

"Damn dude, all these buildings at like twenty-five," Garfield commented.

"Twenty-five? I'm only nineteen," Naruto yelled.

"Wow, ageing isn't your friend," Garfield didn't think about what he said. Naruto wanted to smack him on the back of the head for it. He wasn't wrong though, as soon as he entered the main building Naruto wanted to change quickly to freshen himself up.

"Well, we'll eat in the main manor for now, but you can choose which building you wanna sleep in later. Warning, don't enter any house without my permission or a key like this," Naruto waved his ring of keys in front of the gang, "All houses have a genjutsu and an airtight seal so first of all, you'll be frozen in place and secondly, you'll have no air to breathe so… grab a key before you leave, please."

"I heard eat, what's for dinner, bruh?" Garfield made his way to the main building.

"That's a surprise," he said before turning around and walking backwards, "I need to get your names too," Naruto scratched the back of his blonde hair.

"Gargar, but you can call me Beast Bo-B… Beast Man," the young green man in tight purple leather grinned.

Naruto turned around again to walk forward. He looked over his shoulder, "Robin… just Robin," the black-haired teenage man in a red and black suit moved away from the blonde.

"Superboy… but you can call me Conner… Conner Kent," the muscular young man introduced himself.

"M'gann or Miss Martian," the floating green woman shook the blonde's hand.

"You related to the other green one?" Naruto eyed Beast Boy. Miss Martian shook her head vigorously. Naruto grinned. Internally he was just waiting for one person to reply, but she seemed to be saving herself for last.

"Just call me Jaime Reyes, man," the Hispanic man's blue helmet lowered itself to around his neck. He gave the blonde, who was around his age, a friendly grin.

"Uh… Nightwing," a man fully dressed in black, with a blue bat in the centre of his chest, said.

"I think the silver-haired dude introduced us already, but I'm Peter, Peter Parker, but I also go by Spider-Man, Man of Spiders. Notice the Man part," the brown-haired hero waved. Naruto remembered him from earlier, he seemed just as hyperactive as the knuckleheaded shinobi.

"She's Artemis, I'm Wally, Wally West," the kid in bright yellow pointed to his mistress in green before claiming, "I'm the fastest kid alive."

Naruto grinned, "We'll have to see about that sometime."

They finally reached the main house which Naruto unlocked with a loud, "Release," before slotting the key into the keyhole and twisting it to let out a burst of wind. The door opened. "Go on."

Those who'd already introduced themselves were allowed safe passage, but a select few were still nameless to the nineteen-year-old future Kage.

"Zatanna," a shorter black-haired magician-like woman.

"Cassie," a muscular blonde in black.

"Barbara," a redhead in a bat suit.

Naruto looked past the next person to see how many people were left excluding the mystery blonde woman of his dreams, who appeared to be entering the house last. Five people, he noticed.

"Raven," a moody grey woman.

Four.

"You know who I am, stupid," Shuri laughed. Naruto let her through with no resistance.

Three, she was almost there.

"Call me Kaldur'ahm… or Kal," a dark-skinned man with gills.

Two.

"Bart Allen, the real fastest kid alive," a shorter version of Wally.

"You'll both have to prove that in this universe," Naruto laughed as he followed the quick kid into the four-storey mansion.

"I am the Starfire," a floating redhead in skimpy purple.

"Nice to meet the you," Naruto let her through, "And you are?" he stared into her lively blue eyes.

"Um… Linda Danvers," the woman in blue and red chainmail said.

"Danvers," he held her at the door – she stared into his matching blue eyes, "That's an exotic name. What does it mean?"

"You don't want to know," she tried to walk past him, he held her arm through her cape.

"It can't be that bad, I was named after a hentai character," Naruto chuckled.

"It's just a name. Don't stress yourself over it."

Naruto took a step back. Linda floated past him silently. Naruto slowly closed the door behind her. When he turned around he realised just how many people were actually in his large mansion's living room. Eighteen, he counted. Naruto folded his arms before yelling, "Hey guys, I'm not much of a cook so I'll just ask Ichiraku to deliver some food for us… cause apparently they do that now," as he disappeared upstairs Naruto looked back and told his guests to get comfortable, because he wasn't sure how long they'd be staying there.

The superpowered teenagers scattered themselves around the massive home. Most of them sat on the brown leather couch watching Japanese-themed TV shows, some vanished into the kitchens, whilst a few rushed upstairs to check out the showers.

"Hey Tim," Kal leaned against a granite pillar with arms crossed over his chest.

"Robin in this universe," the masked preteen corrected his teammate.

"Whatever, can I talk to you outside?"

Robin looked around, "Sure," the duo strolled out into the cold sunset Konoha air, "So…" Robin stared at the bright orange sun for a second or two. He watched it slowly dim as it sank behind the large stone faces. Aqualad closed the door behind him and crossed his arms again. "What did you want to talk about?"

"Do you… feel safe?" he asked.

"Safe? Where?"

"Here! This place. In this world. With this Naruto person."

"Usually I'm the paranoid one Aqualad, but this time I don't feel anything," Robin looked up at the young man, "Why?"

"Just… instincts."

"Well trust my instincts when I say-," the door opened.

"Quite rude of you guys to just walk out like that," Nightwing shut the door.

"…" Robin said nothing. He just glanced at Aqualad like, _"Explain."_

Kal enlightened his ex-comrade by saying, "I just feel weird here, Dick, like effervescent."

"Tell him it's just paranoia," Robin shrugged.

"Doctor Strange said that there would be some side-effects to entering a different universe, so maybe you're just ill from dimension shifting… I'll ask Naruto for the keys to one of the chalets," Nightwing wrapped his hand around the doorknob.

"NO!"

"Huh?" both crime fighters turned to the fish man.

"I'm okay. No need to ruin a night of relaxation," Aqualad smirked.

Nightwing raised an eyebrow behind his large Domino mask, "Yeah," he opened the door to let Kaldur in before asking his successor to keep an eye on the Atlantian.

M'gann poured herself a drink. It didn't bother her that half the bottles and boxes were labelled in Japanese because she had an okay understanding of the language, and if she didn't understand the writing then… oh well.

"M'gann."

"Hey," the Martian looked over her shoulder at the muscular man in black, "What's up," she asked taking a sip of her mystery liquid. The pleasurable burning sensation trickled down her throat, she tried to keep a straight face. She coughed it out.

"I'm a bit exhausted so I wanted to know if you knew what the sleeping arrangements were like," he rubbed his messy black hair.

"I hope that's not some sort of invitation for me to sleep with you, Conner," M'gann grinned.

Conner chuckled, "No, unless you think we have time on a mission like this."

"Time for what?" Bart asked.

"How long have you been standing there?" Conner questioned.

Bart took a second to analyse his watch, "Five… six seconds or so. I was actually just looking for a quick bite but your conversation seems a lot tastier."

"Get the hell out of here!" Superboy growled. Bart laughed.

"Make me."

"No time," said M'gann, Bart's smile died, he was actually hoping Conner would entertain him, "You'll just have to ask Robin or Kal, or maybe the owner of the homes," Miss Martian scanned the living room for the hyperactive blonde shinobi. He was standing by the stairs talking to an interested Shuri.

"Why are you touching me?" Naruto never thought he'd have to say that to a woman, but Shuri was picking at his jumpsuit, analysing the orange fabric.

Shuri stopped, "Just Uzumaki, how many hits do you take in a fight?"

"I'm more of a brawler so, I'll take a lot of hits and deal them back at twice the power."

"Much better than my brother, how about I make a suit for you," she offered.

A sweat dropped down Naruto's forehead, "Uh, I may not look like your classic ninja, but I'm a lot more comfortable in orange than in underwear and a cape."

"No, I mean-,"

M'gann floated across the room, cutting the conversation short – Shuri used the opportunity to sneak upstairs – Miss Martian apologised for interrupting the blonde before asking for the keys to one of the houses.

"Why would you want to sleep now? The night is young," Naruto joked. There was a knocking at the door, "That must be the food. Oi, can someone open that up for me?"

Wally, who was the closest, pulled open the door.

"Hey there," Sakura shook the redhead's hand as a group of shinobi slowly made their way into the Namikaze Compound Central Manor with snacks and drinks.

"Hi."

"Hey there."

"Hello."

The Konoha Twelve (Minus Sasuke, Hinata and Kiba) and Young Justice (Plus Peter Parker and Shuri) traded hellos as they met and got to know each other. M'gann looked up at Naruto who ushered her into the crowd and introduced her to Ino Yamanaka.

He drifted over to Garfield who was spread out on the couch with a bag of chips in hand, "Hey Gargar, can you come up to the rooftop if anything goes wrong?" the green man sat up and slot a handful of chips between his teeth.

"You can just call me Garfield, bruh. Rooftop? Why you be heading to the rooftop when the parties down here… bruh?" he asked.

"I'm gonna go look for Shuri, at least I believe that's where she went."

"Okay, no problem bruh. Just take a condom, don't want no inter-dimensional babies popping up and shit, little buggers will have like six eyes and what not."

Naruto didn't understand the second half of that. He just stared at the green teen, "Yeah… rooftop."

Chouji planted himself next to the lazy beast and demanded a handful of chips. Garfield obliged. Naruto was already gone by the time Garfield finished pouring chips into Chouji's palm.

* * *

_A Minute Later – Namikaze Compound Central Manor Rooftop_

The Konoha Night had begun. The sun had sunk behind the Hokage Monument, leaving the village in the twilight zone between a starry night and dim city lights. The Konoha Night air was cleaner and colder than any air Shuri had tasted before, the city was so pure, so natural that a mental war was waging within her. She continually asked herself what she would do when this was all over, whether she'd be allowed to stay in this clean universe, in this clean world. The decision would've been a lot easier if this world had Wi-Fi.

Naruto walked out onto the roof. He saw the dark-skinned woman sitting with her feet hanging over the roof's ledge. She seemed to be playing with something in her hands, "You need a permit to be up here."

"Huh?" she looked back at the laughing blonde. She joined him in laughter, "Come, Just Uzumaki, sit."

Naruto approached, still laughing, "You know my name isn't Just Uzumaki right?"

"I know, but it's a fun little nickname," she unfolded the thing in her lap as Naruto sat down next to her, letting his feet hang off the side.

It was a long-sleeved black shirt with a red zipper and a pair of orange jumpsuit pants, not unlike his own, "Did you get those pants from my closet?"

"Mmmaybe," she rolled her eyes mischievously, "Put it on," she commanded.

"What?"

"Put on these clothes, Just Uzumaki."

"I can't do that dattebayo," Naruto awkwardly laughed.

"And why not?"

"Because putting on those clothes would mean taking off these clothes."

"And? I know what a naked man looks like," Shuri shrugged.

"I don't want to know how you know that, Princess, but I'd be much more comfortable fully clothed when I'm around you," he said.

"Should I take that as an insult?"

"No, of course not, I mean you're a beautiful woman and all, you're pretty, young, great fashion sense."

"Enough with the flattery, at least put on the shirt. I command you as princess," Shuri used her fake power to force Naruto to wear the shirt. He uncomfortably removed his orange and black jumpsuit jacket, leaving him in his steamy mesh shirt. Shuri reluctantly looked away before handing him the black shirt. As he put it on, orange ripples spread out from the centre of his core.

"It feels light," he commented.

"My brother's suit uses similar technology. It stimulates the right nerves when you get hit so you only feel half the pain, then it stores up energy so you can deal twice as much damage," she grinned.

"Thanks, but why would you do that for me?" Naruto asked the woman he'd just met.

"Because I felt like it… no other reason," Shuri stood up and placed her hand on Naruto's spiky locks. Naruto wasn't wearing his headband so it left his forehead, and hair, free to flow in the wind, "You should also cut your hair. It'll make you look more serious than you do now."

"No way, I'd never cut my hair. My long hair and my orange jumpsuit are what make Naruto, Naruto."

The rooftop door creaked open. Both youngsters looked over at the third person to get hit by the cool Konoha air. Naruto's heart skipped a beat.

"Linda!" Naruto tried to wipe the shit-eating grin off his face to no avail.

The blonde woman paused, "Who? Oh yeah, Linda Lee Danvers is my alter ego. Call me Kara Zor-El, or Supergirl," the woman looked at the duo, who were still touching each other, "Am I interrupting something?"

"No, no, come join us," Naruto said without consulting with Shuri first.

Kara floated over to the duo. They all sat along the ledge soaking it all in. Konoha was beautiful, twice as beautiful at night. The three of them on the roof made it three times as beautiful for the trio.

"I don't get it," Shuri spoke first, "This world has no Wi-Fi signal, no cars, no planes, no video games, and yet. It seems like such a nice and… lovable place to stay. Like you'd never get bored."

"Yeah, I think a simple walk around the village every night would do you a world of good for the soul and for the body," Kara thought aloud.

"You wanna go?" Naruto asked.

"Yes, please, but… maybe tomorrow night, I'm exhausted," Kara said.

Naruto looked over to Shuri, "You in?"

Shuri didn't expect to be invited to this walk, but she didn't want to be impolite, "Of course."

"Then the Ninja World World Tour begins tomorrow," ironically Naruto took a step forward and off the building with Shuri and Kara. All six feet hit the side of the building covered in chakra. Naruto was perpendicular to the building, parallel to the floor, his new friend, and his new crush. He took a moment to analyse the situation. Shuri was a little amazed at how she was doing things she'd only seen Spider-Man do, but Supergirl was a little less surprised. Naruto closed his eyes. Earlier that day he was lying in bed, depressed as shit, and crying over a woman he didn't even know he loved until twenty-four hours ago. Now he was relaxing on a Konoha Night, under a starry sky, with a goddess and princess. _"I wonder if Hinata's as happy as I am."_

* * *

_Meanwhile – Hyuuga Compound_

Kiba carefully removed Hinata's skirt and left her standing there in nothing but a pair of thin lilac underwear and a matching C-Cup bra. Hinata was gorgeous, with her navy blue hair, faded purple eyes, smooth pale skin and an hourglass figure she kept hidden under layers of ugly clothing. Kiba couldn't help but take a step back and stare. The Hyuuga princess crossed her arms nervously to take up as little space as possible.

"What?" she timidly asked.

"Perfection," he commented.

She covered up some more, "Um… don't you think we're moving too fast?"

"Honestly…" Kiba tossed the light Hyuuga onto the large memory foam bed. He barked at her, "I don't think we're moving fast enough," he ripped his shirt off and pounced on the dainty woman.

* * *

_Meanwhile – The Uchiha Compound_

Doctor Strange sat on one of the finely decorated Uchiha couches reading through a few of the ancient Uchiha war books. His eyes moved across the page effortlessly which impressed Sasuke because half of the books were encrypted, only readable using the Sharingan, some even the Rinnegan.

"You know where you are right?" Sasuke asked.

"Let me guess, your home?" Strange looked around.

Sasuke opened the window to put on display the empty houses and shops surrounding the main house. He placed his foot on a low coffee table, "It was… and it was beautiful."

"Until?"

"Until the village forced my brother to slaughter my entire family. It was an act of cowardice if I've ever seen one," Sasuke growled.

"That's… a touching story, but I'm guessing it's not the reason you brought _me_ here specifically."

"Obviously, I asked you to stay here because as a magic man you're able to do things no one else can, right?" Sasuke eyed the older man.

"… Yes," Strange raised an eyebrow.

"And you want this Thanos dead more than I do, right?"

"Correct again."

"So I have one request of you."

"Hmph?"

"Bring back my dead brother, Itachi Uchiha."

"…"

* * *

_Unknown Time – Somewhere In The Marvel Universe_

Thanos dropped Loki's lifeless body in front of the God of Thunder. The bound man screamed something, but his mouth was covered so it came out as a loud muffle. Thanos stared daggers into the god's eyes.

"No resurrections this time."

Thor tried to get out but he was wrapped tightly in metal plates. Thanos took a step back and stood next to his four 'children'. He raised his arm above his head and smiled. The purple stone began to glow. He clenched his fist.

**Power Stone.**

Purple blazes broke out all over the beaten down spaceships. The Asgardian bodies littering the spacecraft burned along with it. Thanos closed his fist again.

**Space Stone.**

All five of them vanished in a deep blue cloud. Thor was free to cry over his dead brother as the ship exploded around him.


	3. The Calm Before The Storm

Naruto was exhausted. He'd been out on the road for a year, meaning he had to get up every day at the crack of dawn to cover as much ground as possible, and when he finally got home he had to host over eighteen young adults so he only got to sleep at around one in the morning. This meant that when he finally shut his eyes he was out, and he was out for a while. He eventually woke up at around twelve midday, and even then he was still groggy. But he had to put on a black shirt and some pants to go check up on the superheroes. He quickly made sure it wasn't the black shirt Shuri had made for him the night prior.

Speaking of Shuri… "Did you sleep here all night, Your Highness?" Naruto asked. The young woman sat up a little stunned. She glanced at Naruto, then looked at her watch to check the time, she finally made sure all her clothes were on before looking back at Naruto.

"Nothing ha-,"

"No, of course not, Princess," Naruto shook his head.

Shuri jumped to her feet, "Then no one hears about this," she quickly made her way out of the room and into the bathroom. Naruto heard the door slam.

"_**Even if it did, it wouldn't have been a trainwreck."**_

"Honestly, you'd fuck anything that moved if you had the chance to."

"_**Wrong! I'd fuck up, everything that moved if I had the chance to. Sorry kit, destruction is in my blood."**_

There were ten houses excluding his own, and Naruto allowed the heroes to freely sleep in any house they wanted to, considering how each one had four bedrooms. The sleeping arrangements were discussed at one in the morning when the youngsters were tired from drinking and eating all night.

Kara (Naruto's first priority) slept in the closest chalet with Cassie, Barbara, Artemis and Raven; while Conner slept with M'gann and Dick with Starfire; Garfield, Bart, Wally and Peter chose to room with Chouji which was weird because he had his own Compound; and Robin, Kaldur'ahm and Jaime (or the Esoteric Boys) chose to sleep in one house with Zatanna. The other six manors were left empty which Naruto didn't mind. It just meant less cleaning up for him when Thanos was caught.

Naruto opened the door and walked out into the Compound Square which sat between, and connected, the eleven buildings. He made his way down the cobblestone pathway to the first buildings, his priority building. He knocked on the door.

The portal swung open to reveal a half-naked blonde with a hangover. Kara was probably an inch shorter than Naruto, but add that to the fact that she was slouching meant Naruto had to look down at her. She was wearing just a white sports bra with a red 'S' on it and a short pair of black tights. Naruto couldn't stop himself from staring. His young male hormones commanded him to just reach out and grab some boob or slap some ass, but a mental argument (in which Kurama's input didn't help) stopped him from doing something he'd regret later. He could only imagine what a slap from Kara would feel like.

"Yeah?" she groaned.

"I'm just checking to see if you guys are okay in here?"

"Who is it?" a voice yelled from upstairs. Kara cringed. Her super-hearing seemed to be working to her disadvantage.

"It's Naruto!"

The shinobi tried to add something up quickly, "Hey, there are five of you in here right?" Naruto asked. Kara nodded in agreement whilst tying her hair into a messy bun, "… but there are only four bedrooms."

"Yeah, Cassie and I shared a bed together."

Naruto knew two women would've had to share a bed, he just wanted to hear the nosebleed-inducing news for himself. He cleared his throat, "And you didn't mind? I mean, I have a spare bedroom if they feel uncomfortable. Or you could use my bed, I mean it's a queen-sized bed, meant for a couple – not that we're a couple just-,"

Suddenly a third party joined the conversation, saving Naruto. An equally exhausted and equally hungover Cassie Sandsmark who was wearing one of Naruto's mesh shirts… only. Naruto had to look up because Cassie probably didn't realise that Naruto could see her W-shaped underwear through the thin mesh.

"Nope, it was cold anyway so the more of us on the bed the better," Cassie commented. Naruto started sweating.

"What about Barbara, Artemis and Raven, how did they sleep?" Naruto had already spoken with the person he'd come to speak with so he wanted to speed things up so he could check on the other compounds.

Kara looked over her shoulder, "Don't really know about Barb and Artemis, but you can ask Raven yourself. Hey Ray, come here for a sec."

Naruto's heart picked up to about two hundred beats per minute as he heard the half-demon's light footsteps. The thought of seeing Raven half-naked caused excessive nosebleeds. His palms grew sweaty. His pupils constricted. Swallowing saliva felt like swallowing stones.

"Hey."

Disappointment.

Raven was fully clothed. Literally, everyone was half-naked, including himself, except her. Why was she so unique? He loved her for it, but at the same time he hated her so much.

"I see you're one of a kind, sleeping fully clothed," Naruto joked.

Raven said, in a serious tone, "I wouldn't say fully clothed considering how I'm just wearing my robe."

Naruto's knees almost buckled under him, "What?"

"I slept naked. Whenever I put clothes on I felt too hot, so I just took them off. It was cold, but I preferred the cold."

"_What are you doing to me?"_ Naruto's mouth watered. He took a step back and smiled, "Interesting. Well, I need to go check on the others. See you in a few," he said. In truth, he didn't leave because he had to check on anyone else, he just left because if he stayed another second his body would've involuntarily pulled Raven's robe off, thus ruining any chance he had with her. _"Don't turn around,"_ is all he could think to himself as he walked up the pathway and into the second house.

* * *

**PERFECTLY BALANCED**

**CHAPTER THREE**

**The Calm Before The Storm**

* * *

The next door opened.

"Naruto," Nightwing grinned. He had his mask off and was only wearing a pair of dark blue boxer shorts. This was the most of Nightwing he'd ever seen.

"Nightwing, hey," Naruto greeted.

"Just call me Dick," he said happily. He'd learnt a lot of new names over the past two days – Gargar turned to Garfield, Linda Danvers turned to Kara Zor-El and Nightwing turned to Dick, "Dick Grayson."

"Well Dick, I was just checking in to make sure you slept well."

"Oh yeah, I'm sure we all slept well," he grinned.

"Oh… great," Naruto slowly moved backwards, "Just… replace my sheets with the ones in the main closet please."

"Will do," Dick laughed. The door closed. Naruto regretted knocking on it in the first place.

Naruto's next building smelled like a frat house. Garfield opened the door in his boxer briefs, "Yo bro, what's up," he gave the blonde a complicated handshake, "Come on in."

"I was actually just passing by to come check up on you," Naruto was already halfway inside. Beast Boy had a firm grip on the older man's wrist and he didn't let go until they were both chilling on the couch being marinated in man musk.

"Sleep well?" Garfield asked.

"… Like a baby," Naruto smirked.

"_Sasuke?!" a mentally and physically exhausted Naruto looked around at the widespread destruction. Konoha was no more. The unfinished remains of Kakashi's stone face was the last remnant of the once great shinobi village._

_Suddenly a pile of rubble rose. Naruto zoomed in on the figure's bright red eyes._

"_Sasuke!" Naruto grinned._

_The silhouette, shrouded in darkness, stood at full height – nearly eight feet tall – and silently glared at the blonde as, one-by-one, seven little gems on its fist penetrated the darkness. The figure raised its arm._

_The moon came down on top of him._

"_The end starts now."_

Naruto nodded, "Like a newborn baby," he brushed aside his vivid nightmare, "You?"

"Had the weirdest dream bruh," Beast Boy sipped on a can of energy drink.

There was an awkward silence.

"Are you gonna tell me what you dreamt about?"

"Oh yeah," Garfield sat up, "I was in my own body, you check, but I had no control over what it was my body was doing. Like I was a backseat driver in my own brain. Worst part was that my body started attacking everyone and everything. I was so destructive for some reason."

"Sounds less like a dream and more like a nightmare to me, dattebayo."

"Wouldn't really know, I've never experienced nightmares before," Garfield shrugged.

"Everyone has a nightmare every now and then."

"Not me," he insisted.

"You probably can't remember it then."

"… If all nightmares are like the one I had last night it seems like a hard thing to forget dude-."

A mountain of cans exploded as a confused Chouji emerged from the pile. He scanned his surroundings to see where he was.

"Hey, he's alive," Garfield laughed.

"How long has he been under there?"

"He slept there bruh. Said it was his little castle of beer bruh."

Chouji fell back into the massive pile of cans, "My head hurts," was his only comment.

* * *

At some point during the day Sakura and Ino had come by and requested to see the superhero women. Too tired to ask questions Naruto gathered all the ladies and let them left them with the pink-haired kunoichi. Whilst the women were out, the men, superhero and shinobi, decided to gather on the Namikaze training field for a quick sparring competition.

"How about shinobi versus hero?" Naruto asked in his bright orange jumpsuit. Shikamaru proceeded to count the number of people participating. Since Sasuke, Neji, Conner and Aqualad considered themselves to cool for a quick spar, the gang let them sit on the sidelines for the contest. Chouji, Peter, Jaime, Naruto, Robin, Garfield, Konohamaru, Lee, Wally, Bart, Sai, Gaara, Dick, and himself made fourteen, Shikamaru counted. That meant seven matches.

"Since you guys are our guests how about you pick who you want to fight," Naruto told Nightwing who was wearing his bat suit.

"Okay, cool. Peter. You can choose first," Dick gave the honour to the only Marvel teen.

"Huh? Um… sure. Okay, I'll… I'll take the kid," Peter chose Konohamaru. The brown-haired Chuunin gave his opponent a little smile, "… Did I just screw myself over? Is he like the strongest among you or something? Like a little Yoda, just not as green?" Peter asked the shinobi. They all shrugged. He looked back at Konohamaru who put his hands behind his back and grinned.

"Your turn Bart," Peter passed the baton onto the mini speedster.

"I want the guy with the eyebrows," Bart chose the beautiful Green Beast of the Leaf. Lee had fire in his eyes.

"Tim."

"Naruto!" he chose quickly. The blonde lit up.

He gave the enigmatic hero a foxy grin, "Great choice dattebayo," Tim folded his arms and disappeared into the crowd of heroes.

Wally chose next and he went after Chouji for the fun of it; Nightwing, underestimating his opponent and overestimating himself, picked Gaara. Jaime chose Shikamaru. Finally, Garfield settled for Sai.

* * *

_Meanwhile – Konoha Mall_

The ladies on the other hand, had gone shopping for new clothes with Sakura, Ino, Tenten, Hinata, Hanabi, Karui, Moegi, Karin and Temari. Since there were nine superheroines and nine kunoichi, each kunoichi temporarily adopted a superhero and dragged them around the massive village. Sakura chose M'gann because she wanted to continue a conversation they'd started the previous night, Ino went after Kara simply because of her blonde hair, Tenten picked Artemis because why not, Hanabi picked Raven, Hinata coincidently picked Shuri, Karin chose Cassie, Temari picked Barbara, Karui chose Zatanna, and Moegi chose Starfire. The nine groups split up.

_With Sakura_

"So how long have you been with Conner?" Sakura asked strolling through the empty streets with her green compatriot.

We've been vibing since 2010," Miss Martian said.

"2010?"

"Yeah… 2010. Wait, what year is it?"

"I… don't think anyone knows what year it is," Sakura stopped to think, "It's just a year after the Fourth Great Shinobi World War."

"Fourth?"

"Yeah," Sakura raised four fingers.

"We've also had World Wars but only two, both caused by Germans," M'gann tried to comprehend fighting four World Wars, "Just two World Wars killed one hundred million of our people, how many people did four take?"

"Millions, but our whole population consists of less than a few million people so all wars together have probably taken out at least half of our population in the grand scheme of things."

M'gann took a second to look around at the vibrant green village, "And yet, your world is so clean and peaceful," she giggled, "So perfect I might consider staying."

"Oh we're not perfect," Sakura stopped in front of one of Konoha's many clothing stores, "We're just good at hiding our imperfections."

M'gann entered first and looked around, "Lots of mesh," she commented.

"Yep, mesh is in season… that, and it's like underwear to us so grab a lot of it," Sakura already had three outfits in hand. As she grabbed the fourth item she continued the conversation from earlier, "So… you and Conner."

"Oh yeah, Superboy," M'gann turned to the pinkhead.

"He seems like a difficult person, how did you guys end up together?"

"Honestly, I think fate brought us together considering how we're total opposites," M'gann brushed aside a strand of short brown hair, "I'm such a nice person so to speak, and he's so… cold."

"Relatable, I just wish your fate worked in my universe," Sakura handed the green woman a handful of clothes, "Time to get changed."

"Let fate operate at her own pace," M'gann said before being pushed into the changing rooms. Sakura sat on the bench outside the tiny room, face in hands, "and I'm not just saying that because I've already experienced love," she said. Sakura sat up, "I can read minds remember."

_With Ino_

"So on a scale from one-to-ten how strong would you say you are?" Kara asked.

The shorter blonde blushed, "Oh no, I'm way too modest to gauge my own strength, but if I had to say I'm probably a ten. I'm definitely better than Sakura, and probably on par with Naruto and Sasuke," Ino smirked.

"Really? I think I'm pretty tough too. I often get compared to my cousin Kal though, then I feel so weak in his shadow," Kara sulked.

They walked through the revolving glass door into a high-end clothing store, "Kal?" Ino asked.

"Yeah, you know him as Clark," Kara's feet hit the floor, "Muscular, chiselled-jaw, glasses."

"Sounds sexy," Ino giggled as she picked up a dress and held up to Kara's frame.

"Geez, that's a lot of zeroes," she read the dress's tags, "You sure you can afford it?"

"Of course I can, I co-founded this place after the Fourth Great Shinobi War," Ino explained. She picked up a sparkly black blouse and lifted it to Kara.

"You got anything in blue and red?"

Ino looked at Kara up and down. She really stood out in the Narutoverse. Kara was wearing golden-lined blue chainmail armour with a giant red 'S' on her chest and a red mini-skirt around her waist. Luckily she'd detached her long red cape so not as many people were staring in intrigue when she walked past. Ino took a step back, "You seem too red as it is, maybe something… white would suit you more."

Kara rolled her eyes. When Ino turned around Kara's rolling eyes quickly shifted into a smile.

"Try this on."

_With Hinata_

"Luckily for you, Konoha has a Geek Store," the Hyuuga princess said strolling through a wacky-fashion store with the slightly younger woman.

Shuri blushed, "Just because I'm smart doesn't mean I'm a geek."

Hinata giggled, "I know geek when I see it, and you are geek chic… all you're missing is a pair of glasses and some braces."

"I'm not a geek but I still feel stereotyped," Shuri flashed Hinata with her beautiful smile, "I never saw you at Naruto's house," she tried to change the subject.

"Naruto's house?" it was Hinata's turn to blush, "Um… I don't… I don't want to talk about it."

They both stopped to talk in the middle of the empty store. Hinata watched the genius carefully. They made eye contact… "You guys are fighting?" Shuri asked reading her new friend's emotions.

Hinata stopped blushing, she sounded annoyed, "It's nothing… I was just preoccupied. Can we quickly finish shopping so you can get back to the boys?"

* * *

_Meanwhile – Namikaze Training Field_

Wally and Bart had been forced to sit on the sidelines with Conner, Aqualad and Sasuke after quickly finding out that their superspeed didn't work in this universe, which meant Chouji and Lee won by default. The first matchup, between Peter Parker and Konohamaru Sarutobi, was already underway and neither participant was taking it too seriously.

"So far so good I'd say," Peter shot a web out and zipped across the battlefield, barely dodging Konohamaru's flying kick. The young man stood up straight and smiled. Peter slid across the floor.

"I haven't started using my trump card yet," Konohamaru made a cross with his fingers.

"Whoa!" Peter took a step back, "Am I… am I seeing double?"

"Oi! Pay attention!" the clone dashed forward. Peter looked around. He hated fighting in open fields because there wasn't much he could swing from. His whole gimmick was swinging from buildings, so a battleground with no high structures was his worst nightmare.

"Why is my spider sense going crazy?" Peter looked up at a bright blue spiralling orb of destruction, "Oh!" the ground beneath him exploded as he jumped into the air. The Rasengan made contact with the earth turning rocks to sand.

"What in the world was that?" Peter took his mask off to get a better look. The original Konohamaru approached with the same technique charged.

"It's called the Rasengan. Do you want a taste!"

* * *

_Meanwhile – The Goth Store_

"So tell me a little about Naruto," Hinata didn't hear Shuri's request. She was too busy scanning through the robes for anything in orange to match Shuri's fancy attire. Shuri just said, "Naruto, if it isn't too awkward."

"Naruto? If you're looking for a quick hook-up in Konoha then there's a lot of other guys out there, Naruto is a guy who just wants to settle down and have kids at this point. Is there anyone else that you're interested in?" Hinata asked trying to guide the youngster away from the blonde.

Shuri's spine straightened. She remembered the last time her mother had sat down with her and T'Challa to talk about grandchildren, "If you told my brother that he would marry me to him on the spot. He's always looking for ways to get rid of me, and my mother would love to hear that I got married to a young, rich and handsome bachelor," said Shuri.

"Marriage? You're like twelve."

"I'm seventeen. Only two years younger than he is. Perfect, don't you think," Shuri laughed, "Plus, with life as we know it on the verge of disaster, he'd be glad to hear if there's a future he could spend it with me," Shuri never pictured herself saying that about a boy.

Hanabi never bothered to explain the extent of the Thanos situation to Hinata so the Hyuuga princess just nodded to keep her guest happy. "How about that?" Hinata saw something shiny in a pile of clearance sale items.

* * *

_Namikaze Training Field_

Spidey vaulted over an over-enthusiastic Konohamaru. He finished the vault off by slamming Konohamaru into the ground so hard the orb detached from his grip and became unstable. Naruto blitzed in to control Konohamaru's Rasengan before it exploded. The kid was lying there, unconscious, oblivious to how much destruction he almost caused.

"No need to leave the battlefield," Robin stepped up to the plate, pushing the winner in red out of the way. Peter took his mask off and sat on the sidelines. Naruto held his right hand out and absorbed the Rasengan into his skin.

"I've got to warn you though; I don't give up."

"Neither do I," Tim whipped out a light metal staff.

Naruto blinked.

* * *

_The High-End Fashion Store_

"Naruto?!" Ino yelled, catching the store clerk's attention, but only for a minute. She returned to her fashion magazine, "What do you mean you like Naruto?"

"I don't like him, no! I think he likes me and for some reason that makes me want to know more about him," Kara shrugged.

"He's so hyperactive, you're just as hyperactive… how would that even work when opposites are supposed to attract?" Ino asked.

"Love is love, it has no rules," was Kara's obvious answer.

"You don't want to go after Naruto," Ino said sharply.

"Why not? Is he dating someone?"

"No."

"Is he some sort of player?"

"Of course not."

"Is he like saving himself for someone?"

"Y… well… no," Ino began to walk around the store.

"Then what's wrong with him?"

* * *

_Namikaze Training Field_

_Poof! Poof! Poof!_ With three quick swipes three Naruto clones dispelled. Robin walked out of the smoke. The staff extended even more, "Believe it or not, I've been wanting to do this since yesterday," Robin dashed.

"Believe it or not, I believe it-," Naruto got smacked with Robin's stick. He took a step back, "Wait, I thought we were monologuing still," Robin kicked him to the ground. The staff hit the ground next, just missing the shinobi's face. Naruto slid across the grass a few metres away. _"He's fast…"_ _**"Not fast enough!"**_

Four balls rolled up to the blonde. He covered his face with his arms. They exploded. He flew back. Robin attacked.

"Rasengan!"

Robin looked up. His fist was a few inches in front of Naruto's nose… but, another Naruto had burst out of the ground and his spiralling blue ball of death was just a few inches away from his chest.

"Crud," he made a choice quickly. He twisted and contorted his body painfully to dodge the attack, but missed Naruto's face. It would've been in vain anyway because somehow the Naruto's had swapped places in the smoke. The one he would've punched turned into clouds. The real Naruto was gone. "Not again."

Four clones leapt out of the ground and kicked Robin into the air. Naruto's ultimate taijutsu technique had begun.

* * *

_The Geek Store / The High-End Fashion Store_

"There's something you're holding out from me, Hinata… why are you and Naruto fighting anyway?" Shuri asked.

/

"Come on Ino, I don't usually ask people for help so just tell me what's wrong with Naruto?" Kara floated towards the blonde.

/

"Nothing!" Hinata snapped, "Nothing's wrong with Naruto, he's got a nice body, he's the strongest person in the world at the moment and he's such a nice guy, I just had needs and when someone leaves for a year and you're not sure whether they're gonna come back you don't know if he's going to be able to fulfil those needs… I'm not a bad person. I'm not the bad guy. I just deserve better than Naruto, and Kiba was just there for me, and he's always been there ever since our days of Squad T-," Shuri shut her up with a hand on the shoulder.

/

"Naruto is like a bad stock at the moment. You should've seen how he was in the Hokage's boardroom. He looked sickly and confused and scared. He just came back from a year-long tour of the world and he found out that the woman he'd been saving himself for was actually being unfaithful to him on the side so he's not in the perfect state to entertain relationships, so let's all just back off for now," Ino said. Kara raised an eyebrow.

/

"Whoa, slow down there. I only got half of that, but I don't think it's your fault for not being into Naruto," Shuri consoled the older woman.

/

"I don't know how you trade deals, but from my experience if you know a stock is bad now, but will be booming in the future it's best to invest as soon as possible. So that you're thousand buck investment can come out as a million-dollar deal," Kara explained.

/

"That's the thing, I was… but… I'm torn between him and Kiba right now," Hinata fiddled with her index fingers.

Shuri got a little less sympathetic and a little more serious, "Well you don't need to be torn anymore. Naruto's mine."

Hinata looked up into the woman's brown eyes. She didn't know what came over her but she shrugged and slyly said, "Sure."

* * *

_Namikaze Training Field_

Robin was in mid-air looking up at the beautiful blue sky. A front flip and a kick later, he was face-first on the tasteless green grass. He grabbed a handful of dirt and threw it at the blonde.

"You'd be nothing without that replication technique."

"Funny, that's what Reddit thinks too."

Robin threw something at the future Kage, who easily caught it. He stared at the little purple orb that exploded between his fingers. The blonde reversed.

"Well let's see how good you are-," Robin kicked him, "when you don't get a-," he elbowed the blonde, "chance to make a single clone!" another kick brought Naruto down.

"This is ridiculous," Sasuke growled.

"What is it now?" Conner had gotten tired of Sasuke's brooding.

"I've fought with Naruto before, he can make giant foxes made of fire appear out of thin air and generate jutsu powerful enough to form black holes. He's obviously toying with the kid," Sasuke stood up.

"Or maybe Tim's actually giving him a run for his money," Conner smirked smugly.

"Naruto! End this!" Sasuke yelled.

"_**I agree with the twerp!"**_

Before Naruto could process Sasuke's request or Kurama's comment, a giant orange-red claw fell from above and crushed Robin, stopping him in his tracks. The beast vanished as quickly as he'd materialised. Robin was unconscious.

Naruto stopped, "I was actually enjoying that."

Sasuke took his seat, "Told you."

* * *

To sum up an eventful day; Gaara drowned Nightwing in sand, Shikamaru gave up against Jaime when he realised he couldn't come up with a plan to nullify his blasters, and Garfield bit through Sai's ink lions as a real lion which quickly left him feeling sick which meant Sai won… I guess.

After a long and painful day for the guys, and an equally long and painful day for the ladies (who also had to pick out clothes for their male compatriots) everyone returned to their homes at the end of the day and rested in preparation for another Konoha day.

* * *

_That Evening – The Hokage Mansion_

Bruce Wayne and Steve Rogers were sitting opposite Kakashi in a small coffee room discussing their plans for the upcoming attack whilst the teenagers were asleep. The silver-haired Hokage brought up something no one else had considered yet.

"I think we're going to have to gather other anime characters."

"Other people from this universe? Not a bad idea. How many though?" Bruce sipped his steaming hot tea.

"All of them." Kakashi suggested.

"That's extreme," Steve stroked his beard.

"I like it," Bruce smiled.


	4. The End of the Universe Approaches

_The Second Night (Around 19:35) – Namikaze Compound_

The Konoha night air was as cold and as crisp as ever. The sky was a deep purple with nearly invisible dark grey clouds bathed in the faint orange hue of a setting sun. The clashing of purple darkness and reddish-orange light created beautiful combinations of colours in the sky whilst casting long shadows over the people under it. Naruto walked out in his sweaty, worn-out orange jumpsuit. He wrapped his black Konoha hitai-ate around his forehead, took a sip of some coffee, then threw the half-empty mug into a nearby bush.

He knocked on the first house's door. His priority door. Someone rushed down the stairs frantically, Naruto took a step back. The door flew open.

"Howdy neighbour," Kara greeted. In the morning, Naruto was surprised by the half-naked superhero. He had to admit, it wasn't as surprising when she was fully clothed, but she was still as beautiful as ever. Supergirl waved.

"Is your room closest to the door or something?" Naruto noticed how Kara had opened the door on both occasions.

"I'm the fastest in the house," she shrugged, "You here to check up on us again?"

"I was actually looking to collect you for that walk you wanted, Shuri's already in my manor," Naruto said.

"Mmm, sure. But can I take a bath?" she asked. Naruto raised an eyebrow.

"You want to take a bath when we're going out into the town?"

"Yeah, why not?" Kara actually caught Naruto's attention.

"Sure, I'll tell Princess Shuri that you're taking a quick shower," Naruto said as he watched Supergirl close the door on him.

* * *

**PERFECTLY BALANCED**

**CHAPTER FOUR**

**The End of the Universe Approaches**

* * *

_Twenty Minutes Later – The Streets of Konoha_

The skies were starting to clear up. The orange in the air was draining away and taking whatever heat was left over with it as the purplish-blue began to dominate. Naruto was wearing an orange and black jumpsuit, classic Konoha shinobi clothing minus the orange; Shuri who'd shopped for clothes the previous day was wearing a fishnet bodysuit under an orange hooded top, and black pants; while Kara, with hair down, was in an Ino-style white crop-top with a long blue skirt that only exposed her ankles. Three of the most out-there personalities in the Naruto World were actually blending into the crowd that night.

The streets of Konoha were pretty empty for a city of over a hundred thousand, but there were still two or three groups of, mostly drunk, people on every cobblestone street. Naruto walked through the roads with Shuri stroking his face. Kara joined in.

"Do they hurt?" Kara asked touching Naruto's whiskers.

"No, sometimes I forget they're even there," he chuckled strolling through the desolate streets of the Leaf. Some vendors were still selling in the Main Market, but most of them were starting to pack their booths up, and those whose booths _were_ still up, were sitting groggily behind their stands savouring the silence, "You want anything?" Naruto asked his women.

"How about an apple?" the floating female had already spotted the fruit from across the market. They turned and slowly approached the old lady selling them.

"You, Shuri?"

"An apple would be nice," she giggled.

Naruto stopped in front of the lady and told her, "Three apples please," Kara, who was the only one with the ability to levitate, landed next to the booth and smiled.

"Ah, Naru-chan, when did you come back into town?" she said in a classic old lady voice.

"Only yesterday, Baa-chan," he said, "How's the store been?"

"Oh business has been slow since you left. You were always the life of the party, it motivated people to spend more money" the old lady laughed as she washed the apples under a nearby tap.

"That's because I'm like a bad guy magnet."

"But at least you always win," she handed him a bag of apples.

"I've always won so far," Naruto grabbed a fresh green apple from the bag and took a bite, "see you later, Baa-chan," he handed the bag over to Kara and gave the lady 15 Ryo.

"Oh goodbye Naru-chan."

"Naru-chan?" a voice giggled.

Naruto turned. He was surprised to see a beautiful blue-eyed blonde in purple approaching. He almost dropped his apple, "Ino? What are you doing here?"

"I live here," she giggled again. Naruto joined her in laughter.

"_I live here. How cheesy," _Kara rolled her eyes.

Shuri didn't really know Ino so she silently held her dripping apple.

"You look so much better today," Ino said. Naruto tried not to take that as an insult, "No, I mean, when I last saw you, you looked so sick, I was worried about you," Ino went for a hug. Naruto accepted it. While her arms were wrapped around Naruto's neck, Ino looked up at the female Kryptonian. Kara grinded her teeth.

Shuri put her hand on her shoulder to calm the woman down.

"Where are you off to now?" Ino asked.

"I was taking Kara and Shuri on a tour around the village," Naruto explained.

"So much walking, why not just take them up to the perch?"

Naruto thought for a second, "That's actually a good idea."

"It's a great idea, how about I join you guys."

"Sure," Naruto nodded.

They made their way out of the market. Naruto made his way up a little grassy knoll until he had a good view of the liveliest section of Konoha. The south-easternmost section of the Hidden Leaf Village was known as the Party Zone. Drugs, prostitution, and parties were all the rage down there. It got Naruto thinking, _"If they knew what was coming their way, would they cease their parties or party harder in an attempt to live their lives to the fullest?"_

When they reached the top of the hill, Naruto's brain stopped thinking so he could sit down on a bench that had a little plaque on it _'Obito's Perch'_. His three female compatriots sat down on either side of him (viewed from behind, arranged left to right: Shuri, Ino, Naruto, Kara), enjoying their apples.

"You're pretty well liked, Just Uzumaki," Shuri noticed.

"Yeah, you'd think that," Naruto laughed at that statement, "Konoha is the fakest village in the world."

The remark caught Shuri's attention. She leaned against the armrest to the left, and like a true lady, Shuri threw her right leg over her left leg.

"How do you mean?" Shuri asked.

"Ten years ago that same old lady would've made me pay 30 Ryo for one apple and would've spat on it before giving it to me. As a child I was seen as the scum of the city, a plague they couldn't get rid of because every major village needed a Jinchuuriki. They made my life a living nightmare… but, fast forward a few years. I stop a few S-class shinobi, seal away a few Rabbit Princesses and suddenly they beg me to stay. I'm just a status symbol to them. A hero. But I don't care anymore, maybe when I become Hokage it'll all change."

"Hokage?" Kara asked.

Naruto directed everyone's, except Ino's, attention to the giant monument looming over the village. He pointed to the six faces on the nearby mountain, "The shinobi in charge of the entire village. I'd be the most respected person in the whole world."

"Like a president?" Kara asked.

"Him too," Naruto didn't know what that was. Shuri and Kara burst out laughing but Naruto and Ino just shared a glance and shrugged. When Kara noticed their synchronised shrug she quickly spoke up.

"People already call you a hero, Naruto, that's more than they've ever called me or Shuri. They call me a false goddess."

"Most men call me the Goddess of Beauty," Ino smirked.

"Yeah and they call me a genius," Shuri shrugged, she wasn't helping.

"Monster, demon, devil, Shinigami, murderer, cancer… the list goes on. I'm not looking for respect anymore," Naruto stopped to fix a loose section on his bandages. He unwrapped the bandages up to his wrist, exposing his pale white skin, before wrapping it up again, "I'm just looking for some**one** who'll love me. Not because they pity me, like Sakura, or because they see me as a hero, like the rest of the village, but because I'm Naruto Uzumaki. I need someone who doesn't even know how powerful the name Uzumaki is, or Namikaze. I need someone who sees a lovable blonde and not Konoha's Number One Hyperactive Knucklehead Hero," he finished his little speech off by staring at Kara. The gorgeous alien looked away nervously. He then unwrapped his bandages again.

"Can we actually go up there?" Shuri asked.

"Yeah, some of the high-end hotels are actually on top of the Hokage Monument so I'm guessing that's where some of your older friends are staying," Ino explained.

"Ooh, I want to go say hi to Kal."

"Then we can go in a minute or two," Naruto finished dealing with his bandages and began talking again, "So what are your abilities?"

"Mine or hers?" Kara asked.

"Both."

"Well I'm Kryptonian, and since I'm being powered by the yellow sun my current powers are practically anything. I mean I can fly, I'm nearly invincible, I can shoot laser beams, freeze people, blow people away and even lift entire buildings… I'm Supergirl."

"That's… a bit horrifying. Who's more powerful between you and Conner?"

"Oh me… I don't mean to brag, but I've taken Kal down in a sparring match before."

"Really?" Naruto was surprised.

Ino scoffed, "Didn't you tell me-,"

"Well! He was already tired and I did surprise him, but he did give up so… win," Kara laughed.

Naruto joined her in laughter before turning to the fourth party, who'd been relatively quiet compared to Kara and Ino, "And what about you, Princess Shuri? Do you have some black cat suit under all that too?"

"Do you want to look and find out?"

"What?" Naruto asked.

"What?" Shuri looked away.

"What?" Ino asked.

"What?" Shuri looked up at the trees surrounding them.

"I heard her, she said-," Shuri quickly flung a tiny metal sphere at Kara to shut her up. It latched onto her shoulder and sent a signal throughout her body which silenced her vocal chords, "Hey," she couldn't speak, but air rushed out of her mouth to make that distinct squeak.

"I'm just smarter than average, and combined with a love for technology I excel at making high-tech things from low-tech materials… but nine out of ten times I need vibranium to do it."

"Vibranium?" Ino asked. Shuri actually interested her a bit, she was unlike any other woman you'd find in Konoha. Most kunoichi had been trained to be strong and beautiful, no one cared about what was under your skull, usually what was under your shirt. She wondered why Naruto hadn't noticed the crush she had on him.

"What's vibranium?" Naruto asked.

"Vibranium?" Kara mouthed. Shuri pulled the tiny sphere from Supergirl's shoulder. The metal had stuck itself to her exposed skin so she had to ask Naruto to yank it out, "Ow," she rubbed her shoulder. There was no point, Kara's skin was bulletproof. There was no mark, but Kara still sulked because… why not.

"Vibranium came from outer space and landing in our country, Wakanda, a long time ago in a meteor. It's a metal, the strongest metal in the world, well our world. It can be shaped and enhanced technologically to make it even stronger, as in my brother's suit."

"Did you put vibranium into those clothes you gave me last night?" Naruto asked.

"Mmmaybe."

"Well how did you do it so quickly?" Naruto wondered.

"A woman has to have her secrets now, doesn't she?"

"My secret is that I'm older than Kal-El," Kara stated. Her three 'comrades' looked over at the blonde. It took them a while to remember that they knew Kal-El as Clark Kent, or Superman.

Naruto was a little terrified, "How old are you?"

"Oh no! I'm eighteen, but I was born eight years before Kal… when I was eight, Krypton was on the verge of death, I was supposed to be his protector, so they sent me ahead of him to earth. But my pod got caught on a black hole, luckily I didn't get sucked in, I just orbited around it for a while."

"A while?" Ino asked.

"Yeah, I don't really care about the time, but when I got out, Kal-El was already in his twenties."

"Twenties? That means you were in there for over twenty years. How old is he now?" Shuri asked.

"… I believe he said thirty-two."

"Eight to eighteen? Ten. Twenty-two years! You were in a black hole for twenty-two years?" Shuri quickly calculated.

"Geez! I could be…" Kara started counting on her fingers.

"Forty, you could be forty by now!" Shuri did it for her.

"Hottest forty-year-old ever," Naruto said.

"What?" Shuri asked.

"What?" Ino asked.

"What?" Naruto looked around.

"Thank you," Kara's super-hearing made this an unfair game, "Hey, Naruto, are you actually dating anyone?"

"Uh… no," Naruto laughed awkwardly. At some point they all knew the conversation would get to this point but they were waiting for someone as neurotic as Kara to pose the question, "I've never actually dated anyone before."

"Just like me," Kara smirked. She looked over to Ino.

She burst out in laughter, "Look at me, of course I've dated people before. Nothing serious though, usually just flings."

The baton was passed from Ino to Shuri.

"I'm more or less like her," Shuri unfolded her legs, "I've had to date a couple of people for… traditional reasons. As soon as I turn eighteen my mom would willingly 'sell' me off to the most suitable bachelor."

"I thought your village was super high-tech. Arranged marriages sound more like our village's style," Naruto said looking at Ino.

"Unfortunately that's what happens when African culture meets Western society."

Naruto wondered, "… What about Eastern c-,"

There was a loud explosion, followed by a huge column of colours coming down from the sky a few blocks away. Ino jumped back. Kara floated over the bench. Worried for his village Naruto dashed towards the mass of energy with Shuri, Ino and Supergirl behind him. The column disappeared just as the foursome arrived on site.

The beam left six people standing in a cloud of smoke. A raccoon, a moody teenage tree, a muscular grey-skinned man, an insect-like woman, a confused young man and a smoking hot blonde with short hair and an eyepatch.

Naruto looked back at Kara and Shuri, "Friends of yours?"

"Clear the area," the Konoha Police arrived to disperse the gathering crowd. Naruto approached. The raccoon in the middle pulled a futuristic blaster out and threatened the policemen surrounding him. Kara pounced on the creature, taking his blaster away.

"What's going on here?" Naruto noticed how badly injured the other blonde was.

"My name's Star Lord, and we need to get our… ugly, weak, stupid friend here to a hospital," the sole human explained.

"I mean, he looks kinda hot to me," Ino said.

Star Lord glared at her, "He's okay, but I mean, if I hadn't eaten those cheeseburgers on the way, you should've seen how buff I looked."

"Doubt it," Shuri shrugged.

"Well it's true. I'm pretty hot under all this leather."

"I told you he was a hunk," the grey man laughed.

"Stay out of this, Drax!"

"This is a smouldering hot slab of man right here, Peter," Drax eyed the injured hero, who groggily got up.

"Alright there's no time to debate how hot I am. My name is Thor, the God of Thunder, I need some help and my sources say the Avengers are in this universe."

"But if we were debating it, you'd be like a two, I'd be a ten," Peter got the last word in.

"Avengers! Yes, follow me," Kara's feet left the ground. Thor raised his arm.

"I can't fly without my hammer; so could we walk there, please?"

Kara landed.

"Sure, we might as well check the Hokage Mansion first," Naruto became an interdimensional tour guide, accompanying his guests to the second most important building in the Hidden Leaf Village.

Naruto knocked on the door, "Come in," Kakashi called. Naruto walked in first, "Since when did you knock?"

"Our village is invaded by floating people and you're surprised by me knocking?"

Thor followed closely behind the future Kage, being supported by Kara and Drax. Thor looked up at Tony, Steve, Strange, Clark, Wayne and Banner.

"Are you okay?" was Steve's first concern.

"How did you get to this universe?" was Tony's question.

"How did you survive Thanos," Banner asked.

"Who's this?" Clark wondered. Mr Wayne just shrugged.

Thor tried to stand up straight, movement hurt his midriff. He pointed to Steve, "I'm a little beat up to be honest," he turned to Banner, "In his mind I'm probably dead," he looked at Tony, "The Guardians had an interdimensional portal on their ship and I just configured it to track down you guys," and finally he turned to Kent, "… who are you?"

"Clark Kent," the Man of Steel went for a handshake, Thor was hesitant but eventually he shook the man's hand. They both had godlike grips that would've broken anyone else's hand.

"Thor."

"Bruce," the man in a million-dollar-suit introduced himself.

"I already know a Bruce, can I call you something else?" Thor asked.

"Oh yeah, no problem. You can also just call me Bruce," Mr Wayne said bluntly.

"We've just resorted to calling our Bruce, Dr Banner," Tony massaged the bridge of his nose.

"Ahem," Kakashi scoffed, getting everyone's attention.

"Oh yeah, come, we were planning a way to stop Thanos from obtaining the seven Infinity Stones," Tony said.

"We're a bit delayed," Thor breathed, "He's already got two Stones."

"Then the war's already lost," Dr Strange sighed.

"And he's got Gamora," Peter Quill yelled.

"… I'm sorry, who's Gamora?" Tony asked.

Drax lifted his head to ask a very important question that was sure to arouse more brain cells than Tony's puny 'who's Gamora', but Peter spoke first, "That doesn't matter right now. What matters is that Thanos is out there rampaging madly and we're here talking about stopping him instead of actually stopping him."

"What's your plan, slick?" Rocket asked with a large blaster on his shoulder.

"If we know where the Stones are then why don't we just grab a handful of people and station them at every point?"

"… That's actually kinda smart," Kakashi shrugged.

"Do we actually know where the Stones are?" Banner asked.

"Knowhere, Marvel Earth, the Valley of the End," Strange recited the Stone locations before opening his necklace to reveal the last stone, "And here. If I told you where the Soul Stone was I'd be lying to you so, let's just work on those four Stones for now."

"I know where the Valley of the End is, otherwise I can't help you with locations," Kakashi said.

"They're all in our universe," Dr Strange explained, "I'll go to Knowhere with one of your heroes and one of your shinobi," Strange told Bruce and Kakashi. They both nodded. "Thor-."

"No."

"What?" Dr Strange hadn't even said anything yet.

"I've got a bone to pick with Thanos, but first I need a new hammer."

"We have plenty of blacksmiths and-,"

"No!" Thor clenched his fists, "My hammer was forged by the dwarves of a dying star called Nidavellir, that's where I need to go."

"Nidavellir, there's no way that's a real place… but if it is I'd very much like to go," Rocket pleaded.

"… Okay, so Cap. You'll need to gather a quick team that'll be on standby. If we find the whereabouts of the Soul Stone we'll need you to rush there before Thanos gets there, but we might as well all get going to our universe," Dr Strange took charge.

"Groot, Rabbit, I want you two to come with me," Thor said. The two Guardians followed the god into the hallway.

"Do I need to alert the young adults?"

Tony tapped on his chest to activate his nanotech armour, "No, don't scare the kids yet. Let the grown-ups handle the big bad purple man."

Kakashi stood up and let his robe flutter in the wind.

"Naruto. You're in charge," he said.

* * *

_A Few Minutes Later – The Uchiha Compound_

Dr Strange was packing up his bags when a brooding young adult passed the grey man's room. Sasuke stopped and reversed when he saw the magician shoving something in his camouflage duffel bag. He leaned against doorframe.

"Yes, I'm leaving," Dr Strange said. Sasuke's footsteps were practically silent, especially since he was walking, shoeless, on carpet. The doctor continued to impress the Uchiha.

"Why?"

"We need to stop Thanos."

"I gave you an easy way to stop him, revive my brother," Sasuke said.

"What makes you think I can even bring people back to life, who do you think I am? Jesus?"

"Who?"

"Never mind," Dr Strange slung the bag strap over his head onto his shoulder. He moved past the dark-haired shinobi.

"You're not even going to try?!"

The door closed.


	5. Here

****

_The Next Evening – Namikaze Compound Square_

"Shinobi and heroes alike," Naruto began, "It's come to my attention that the final push against Thanos has begun dattebayo. As we speak the adults are in the hero universe, preparing to take down the so-called Mad Titan. I have faith in them… but, Dr Strange told me that if Thanos manages to obtain all six universal Gems he will be coming to this world, and there's a chance he'll get here before the heroes do. In that case we should be prepared to fight him off. Now I don't know how strong these Stones are, but I'm pretty sure if we all put our minds together nothing can ever stop us. After all, we're the next generation. We're destined for greatness."

Naruto had delivered his speech whilst standing on the Namikaze Compound Square Wishing Fountain which was the Square's beautiful centrepiece. Gathered in front of him were the young warriors from both hero universes and the young shinobi of the Naruto World. As he looked down he saw a mixture of anguish, confusion and fear so before concluding he cleared his throat and said.

"Don't worry. If there's anyone who can end all this madness with minimum casualties it's me, Naruto Uzumaki, and I promise to kill the Mad Titan myself. And you can ask Sakura if you don't believe it, but I never go back on my word. That's my Nindo, my Ninja Way!"

The faces before him began to lighten up a bit as the blonde stepped down from his higher ground.

"Now then, I've taken the liberty of gathering all the food and drinks I could find in the Compound. Let's grab all of it and head down to the beach for one last evening of relaxation dattebayo," the suggestion was greeted by murmurs of agreement, "So let's change up and get going."

* * *

**PERFECTLY BALANCED**

**CHAPTER FIVE**

**Here**

* * *

_Twenty-Five Minutes Later – Konoha Beach_

Konoha Beach was a beautiful stretch of golden sand that went on for miles and miles. The beach was a fifteen-minute-walk from the large shinobi village and was free recreational fun for anyone. It sat between an ocean and a forest, and measured about eighty metres from water to foliage. The setting red sun cast a deep orange hue on the beach, forcing most beachgoers to leave. The large waves curled up over the shore and smashed into the sand as the first teenager stumbled onto the loose sand. It squeezed itself in between his toes as he marched forty metres into beach before shoving an umbrella into the sand and sitting on a beach chair.

The nineteen-year-old blonde painfully lowered himself into a comfortable position. He gazed at the sun as it sank behind the massive waves, turning from a bright orange to an even brighter red. Naruto exhaled harshly. He was alone on the beach, not because the others refused to follow him, but because they'd gone to buy beach clothing with the shinobi. Naruto had decided to create a few shadow clones and just have them carry all the umbrellas and cooler boxes. They all dispelled as he stared at the sunset.

Naruto didn't want to tell anyone about the nightmares he'd been having. Nightmares wouldn't even be a fair description because most of them happened during the day. He'd be walking normally through the streets of Konoha, then suddenly everyone would turn to dust around him. Panicked, he'd have to close his eyes and remind himself that it wasn't real, but he had a feeling that one day it would be real… he just didn't know why.

"_You've been awfully quiet,"_

Naruto's eyes opened to wet feet. He was standing in an orange room that extended forever in all directions. The only other presence in this eternal plane was the giant fox looming over him. The beast was staring into the darkness.

"Did you do some renovating?"

"**This place has been growing more orange ever since you returned to this village…"**

"Well I like it."

"**I've been contemplating."**

"For a whole day?"

"**It's quite a pickle we've gotten ourselves into."**

"What do you mean? We defeated Kaguya remember."

Kurama laughed**, "Honestly kit, Kaguya didn't know what she was doing. She was powerful and all, but she was just a mother. Madara scared me more than she did… but this. I feel like this surpasses both of them."**

"We've got people from other dimensions fighting this Thanos guy. How powerful can he possibly be, I mean you're the most powerful thing in the Ninja World so no matter what, you can take him down."

"**Your confidence amazes me…"** Kurama threw his enormous left arm forward**, "I can genuinely say that you're the first Jinchuuriki I've ever loved. I've got your back, kit."**

Naruto raised his tiny arm and fistbumped the behemoth, "We've got this!"

"Naruto!"

The blonde returned to the real world and looked over his shoulder.

The pink-haired kunoichi was wearing a hot pink two-piece bikini, that matched her hair, with a large circular sunhat. "He's over here," the attractive woman rushed down the beach.

She was followed by two other kunoichi. The first one Naruto recognised was the Chinese kunoichi because it was rare to see her black hair tied into two fishtail braids. Tenten was wearing an emerald bikini with an equally green beach towel hanging around her waist. The second woman was Ino Yamanaka whose hair was also down. She was wearing a sparkly yellow bikini with a wide sunhat, big black sunglasses and a see-through silken lavender gown.

The next group of people were a cluster of superheroes consisting of Bart in his red neoprene swimsuit with a pair of red goggles, Wally in a pair of yellow and red shorts, Artemis in a green bikini, Garfield in a purple swimsuit which resembled his normal attire, Zatanna in a black one-piece, Robin in a white shirt and jeans, Peter in red and blue shorts, and Aqualad in black shorts. The group settled under one of the umbrellas Naruto's clones had set up.

The Sand Siblings walked out of the foliage next with Shikamaru, Chouji and Karui following closely. Kankuro's face looked different without all the face paint and he looked even weirder without his black clothing, he was only wearing a pair of brown shorts. Temari was walking next to him in a green one-piece swimsuit and a hooded purple jacket with short sleeves. Gaara had brought his gourd along with him which honestly didn't surprise Naruto at all, he was wearing a sleeveless red bodysuit that extended all the way down to his ankles. Shikamaru, who was right behind Temari, was wearing a pair of navy shorts with black waterproof under armour. Chouji, who was never afraid to show off his girth, was in a pair of light green shorts, and was holding hands with Karui, who was in a grey one-piece swimsuit.

One by one, young adults began to flood the beach. M'gann came in a black one-piece, followed by Conner in black skin-tight pants. Dick Grayson, in his purple shorts, arrived with Starfire who was wearing a matching purple bikini. Rock Lee arrived in tight green shorts with Neji who was in a pair of grey shorts. Raven walked elegantly onto the beach in a dark purple one-piece with Kara (who was wearing a white bikini), Shuri (in a pitch black one-piece), Barbara (in a black bikini top and a golden bikini bottom), and Cassie (in a red bikini with a golden 'W' on the left breast).

The last two people Naruto expected to see on the beach were Kiba and Hinata, but they showed up. Kiba was wearing a baggy pair of grey shorts whilst Hinata wore a lavender one-piece with a light grey furry jacket. The duo approached the beach tentatively at first, but when they saw Naruto shrug and accept their presence, they confidently strolled in together. They drew a bit of attention from the shinobi, and created a tinge of tension, but that was soon stolen away from them by the final arrival on the Konoha Beach.

Sasuke stepped onto the sand in a pair of baggy purple pants and a loose white long-sleeved shirt that hung loosely on his muscular frame exposing his rock hard abs. Naruto leaned on the back of his chair and called the older shinobi over. Sasuke strutted through the soft sand until he reached the blonde.

"I didn't expect to see you here," Naruto remarked.

"I didn't expect to be here," Sasuke said.

Naruto reached into a nearby cooler box and pulled out a colourful can, "Then what brings you here?"

"I got a message from someone a while back, and now I have to honour a promise I made," Sasuke explained.

The word 'promise' dug into Naruto's soul and reminded him of how much it sucked to keep a promise, but have someone break it," Well at least some people can honour a promise. Since you're here you might as well enjoy yourself. We're gonna live like it's our last day."

* * *

_Unknown Time – A Planet Called Knowhere_

The Mad Titan broke an aether apart with his right hand before turning to three of his four children and showing off the latest addition to his collection. A shiny red gem that fit perfectly in his glove's middle knuckle. Power surged through him as he gained the ability to control reality itself. He walked out onto a metal platform. The world around him was falling apart, covered in fire and destruction.

"What's next?" the purple big man asked his most intelligent child.

"The Soul Stone, I believe Gamora told us where that one was."

"Then we're off to Vormir."

"Stop right there, Thanos!" three figures rushed out of the darkness to confront the large man. A goateed individual in a red cape, a well-built woman with purple hair, and a man in a red and yellow suit.

"Nice one," Flash told Anko.

"I was trying to unleash my inner hero with that one," she grinned.

"Very scary, kinda throaty," Barry laughed.

"Guys! Not in front of the big bad," Stephen Strange brought them back to reality, but with the Reality Stone in Thanos' possession, what was reality? Dr Strange quickly created a little golden bird and instructed it to tell everyone else that Thanos was going to Vormir next, and that he had obtained the third stone. Reality shuddered at the red gem's touch.

"There's no point. The end has already begun." Thanos told them, "Nothing you do from this point onwards will stop me from doing what was I born to do."

"Honestly, I don't have time for this," Barry got ready to run.

**Reality Stone**

The Flash turned to blocks and broke apart before he could even take a step. Thanos kept his fist closed and kept the red stone glowing. He aimed it at Anko next. The woman exploded into a coiling ribbon. She was unable to move. Dr Strange didn't know what to do after seeing his team get levelled in seconds.

"That's how it's done," Thanos told his children. He then turned his attention to the doctor, "You've already told your allies where I'm going next. That doesn't necessarily mean they'll be able to stop me."

**Space Stone**

The five of them were enveloped by a cloud that instantly transported them to Thanos' ship. The Flash and Anko reverted back into their human forms. Barry removed his mask before falling to the ground, breathing heavily.

"What the hell was that thing?" he asked.

"That was trouble," Strange commented, "Since he'll be going after the Soul Stone I'll head to earth to secure the Mind Stone and to keep the Time Stone safe. Flash can you-," both Flash and Anko were already gone. Dr Strange commented on how rude that was before deciding to just disappear into a gateway.

* * *

_Night Time – Konoha Beach_

Fireworks went off. The young adults turned to the night sky as green and blue explosions went off over the Village Hidden in the Leaves sending ripples through the, at that moment, relatively still ocean. They decorated, already beautiful, nighttime time skies with multi-coloured flares and sparkles. It'd been at least two hours since the youngsters had gotten to the beach, and all of them were, to a certain extent, intoxicated, with the exception of Bart (who had already burnt himself out).

"What are the fireworks for?" M'gann asked her pink-haired best friend.

Sakura sat on a beach chair puzzled, "Honestly I have no idea, but I'm not complaining."

"Neither am I, just curious," M'gann returned to her partner, Conner, who had had enough of swimming and was lying on a beach towel half-asleep. M'gann looked over her shoulder as she was bathed in the red glow of the beautiful explosion, "Conner."

"Hmph?"

"This is such a beautiful moment and you're missing it."

"You're the only beautiful thing I need to see," he groaned. M'gann blushed, "If I see anything more beautiful I just might leave you."

M'gann smacked the man's chest. Not feeling any pain, he chuckled, "I wish you were like Kara," the green-skinned continued to slap the damp superhero.

"What do you mean?"

"None of you guys feel pain, but at least she says, "ouch"," M'gann stopped the slapping.

"Ow," Conner sarcastically growled even though M'gann wasn't hitting him anymore. The redhead laid her head on Conner's soaked but muscular chest.

Sakura turned to Sasuke who'd propped up his chair next to hers in an attempt to start a conversation. This was the first time they'd ever stopped to have a long and deep conversation since before Sasuke was banished, by himself.

"So, how was your atonement?" Sakura fluttered her eyelashes.

"Incomplete," Sasuke said, "Which is why I still haven't asked Tsunade for my left arm," he explained.

"But, I mean, I also know how to put in a prosthetic arm so if you ever feel like it, you can just ask me, Sasuke-kun."

Sasuke brushed a couple of strands away from his face. Both his eyes were a deep onyx, it made him look more mysterious than usual. Sakura stared into them, waiting for an answer. A yellow glow lit his face up as he stated, "I'm leaving."

"What do you mean?" Sakura was mortified.

"I haven't fully atoned for my sins yet, I need to go out and be exposed to more punishments."

"No, Sasuke-kun, you don't have to do that, why are you even doing it? I mean no one even knows what you're atoning for anymore!"

"I know. I disobeyed everyone's orders. I disrespected the Ninja Code, I betrayed my Hokage, and my only family – Itachi – and I betrayed my best friend, I deserve to be punished," Sasuke coldly commented.

Sakura paused when she realised her name wasn't on that list. She bit her lower lip in disappointment, "What about me?"

Sasuke looked over at his partner. They just sat there staring at each other.

Naruto was sitting alone on his chair.

"_**What's wrong Naruto?"**_

"_Don't you see it?"_ Naruto was gazing blankly at the village ahead.

"_**Another nightmare?"**_

Naruto didn't want to tell anyone but in his eyes, the world was dying. The blonde's blue eyes dilated as he watched the entire village of Konoha get turned to dust and lift into the air. Everything. The buildings, the monument, the fireworks, and even the people. Why did everyone have to die? _"Kurama… please help me."_

Someone kissed Naruto's neck. The young man's neck recoiled as his chin flailed around. He looked over to the smooth-lipped assailant. "Ino?"

"Hey there, this seat taken?"

There was no point in answering, Ino had already sat down next to the fellow blonde shinobi.

"Why are you still wearing sunglasses?" Naruto looked over at the slightly older woman. Ino was sitting/lying on the beach chair at such an angle that Naruto couldn't look away until he'd observed her whole body.

She was dripping. Probably because she had just come out of the water. Ino was pale, paler than he was, just as pale as Hinata (who spent most of her childhood trapped indoors). Naruto wasn't sure if Ino liked him, or if she was just being nice, but if his attraction towards her was anything more skin-deep, Ino would have won this little battle for his heart.

She had a combination of physically beautiful components that came together in a manner most women believed was impossible, or at least implausible. From head down she was flawless. Her moist platinum blonde hair clung to her face and the chair under her. She had these large shimmering blue eyes, a cute little nose and naturally plush pink lips. Her neck was neither too meaty nor too skinny, even it was perfect. Her pale shoulders were finely decorated with collarbones you could just nibble on, and connected to muscular but skinny arms. Her breasts were a perfect handful, even though she was lying on her back. Her figure was nearly hourglass with smooth curvatures. A flat toned stomach was surrounded by the outline of her ribs and sharp hipbones which formed a bridge across the top of bikini area. Her long seamless legs began with a thigh gap and ended with cute little youthful toes. Long story short, Ino was, honestly, just too much woman for Naruto.

"Huh?" Naruto's eyes ran up the woman's body to her mouth.

"I said, sometimes people like me wear sunglasses as an accessory."

"People like you?"

"Trend setters," she sat up and rubbed her arm, "Ooh, it's getting a little chilly."

Naruto just laughed as he settled himself into the seat.

Short bursts of cold were beginning to come up the beach from the cooling ocean, but Naruto estimated that they still had a few minutes of beach time left. After that, the wind would probably chase them away.

Pairs had started to form all over the beach. Clusters turned to small groups, which turned to couples and/or couples in the making. The only group still left together consisted of the guys, namely Jaime, Shikamaru, Peter, Chouji, Kiba, Neji, Aqualad and Rock Lee; which left Temari, Karui, Hinata and Tenten together. Sasuke was with Sakura, M'gann with Conner, Dick with Starfire, Gaara with Cassie, Robin with Zatanna, Wally with Artemis, Garfield with Raven, Barbara with Shuri, Kara with Kankuro, and Naruto with Ino and his thoughts.

"This is nice," Naruto had to admit whilst sitting with eyes closed.

"We should do this more often," Ino said.

"I think the superheroes will be leaving in a couple of days."

"No, I mean, you and me. Just come to the beach and chill. Just to show off what we have."

"Why now?" Naruto upped the intensity. His voice shifted. Ino sat up, "I mean, it'd be great but… we've known each other for almost eleven years and this is the longest time we've ever been next to each other outside of a mission. Why?"

"Why wouldn't I want to be in your presence? Us blondes have to stick together," Ino flicked her thick platinum blonde hair.

"That's a very one-dimensional reason dattebayo."

"It's obviously not the only reason, idiot. You're just such a great guy that any girl would be lucky to end up with you."

"You're right," Naruto sat up.

"What are you trying to say?"

"I'm trying to say that I don't see 'this' working out between the two of us. My gut just doesn't trust how you suddenly developed a 'crush' on me," he said.

"This? Crush? You don't even have the social ability to tell what those are. Might I remind you that you chased after Sakura and Hinata for years and they both broke your heart, and now when the last young single kunoichi in Konoha offers you a lifeline you turn it down? You're… I don't… ugh," Ino jumped to her feet and walked away.

"_**YOU MOTHERFUCKING CUNT!"**_

"_Whoa! Such big words from such a little fox,"_ Naruto thought.

"_**My tenant is going to die a virgin!"**_ Kurama cried_**, "I wish I could just bring you in here and slap you around a few times, maybe then it'll knock some sense into you."**_

"_Just listen Kurama, everything I do from now on I do to ensure that I end up with the right woman in the future."_ Naruto sounded a little too confident.

"_**I hope you fuck up, I want you to fuck up, so the reader and I can just sit down and laugh at you."**_

"Mind if I sit?" Naruto didn't hear Shuri approaching, probably because she was walking barefoot through loose sand and he was busy trying to ignore Kurama's hellacious screams.

"No, go ahead."

The younger woman placed herself next to the shinobi and sat there staring at the moon too. Awkward silence reigned for a minute or two until Naruto broke the silence by asking, "This may sound petty, but am I a likable person?"

"Of course you are, I for one love you – as a friend obviously, not as anything more if it isn't cool with you," Shuri laughed awkwardly.

"I just ask because a year ago I thought my life was almost perfect. All that was missing was someone I could settle down with, but in three days I can't get over the loss of two women," Naruto explained.

"Why would you concern yourself over a woman? I mean, you're strong, charming and you're the most handsome person I know from this universe. Even if you were hated in the past. Oh no, by handsome I didn't mean hot, which is why I didn't say hot, I just said that-."

"It's not just women… it's the time I lost thinking about them. I mean, I was out for a whole year meeting new people and new women, but I rejected them all because I thought I was coming home to something real, but there was no reality."

"I don't know much about Hinata, but I know women… or at least I know enough about myself as a woman. She _does_ seem like a very lovable person, but I don't think it's worth it to chase after someone who could string you along for so long… I think she has inner demons to deal with first before she can branch out and settle with someone. The same goes for Ino or Sakura or whatever."

"But things were going so well with her, like it was almost perfect dattebayo."

"From whose perspective? Sometimes a moment can change people's attitudes, and placed in the right situation, someone could feel emotions they've never felt before."

"She loved me ever since we were children!" Naruto said sharply.

Shuri sat up, "That's called puppy love. And puppy love doesn't equal marriage or anything. That kind of love is the situational love I mentioned before. And if she did love you in the past, then there's no need to worry yourself now. Live in the future."

"She's just playing hard to get, I mean, we made a promise after all."

"No, she just doesn't care. You should move on and find someone else who actually cares about you. Someone who, although they've only been in this world for two days, already knows that your favourite food is miso ramen, and that your parents were highly-ranked and highly respected ninjas that died to keep the city alive, and that your birthday is October 10th, and that on that day the… fox demon thing was sealed inside you and that left you as an outcast for most of your life. Maybe if you stopped pursuing someone that wasn't interested in you, you'd open your eyes to someone right under your nose who's been too nervous, and too worried about returning to their universe, to tell you that they actually really, really like you and they think they might actually love you!" Shuri was getting emotional. She couldn't pinpoint what emotion it was exactly, but she was being ravaged by that emotion, so much so that she began tearing up.

She had Naruto in the palm of her hands. The gears were slowly starting to turn in his head and he'd already opened his mouth to say something beginning with "I", but at that moment Hinata sat down at the foot of Shuri's chair and asked to speak with Naruto. Alone.

Shuri swallowed hard. It was like Naruto had loaded up to 99%, then failed to download or to register Shuri's words because as soon as she got up, Naruto excitedly turned to Hinata in anticipation.

"What's wrong Hina-chan?"

"I can't help but feel I've made a big mistake," Hinata said.

Naruto grinned, "You've broken things off with Kiba?"

"No, we're still together. I've just been thinking about what it'd be like if I'd chosen you over him, and I want to give it a try… but I don't want anyone to know other than you and me, okay?"

Naruto's smile died. This sneaky, rule-breaking version of Hinata wasn't the version of Hinata that Naruto had grown to love over a year. What happened to her within that year? "… So you want to cheat on Kiba with me?"

"Don't think of it as cheating. Think of it as a test run to see if we would've been good together. If we're not then we can forget about it and go our separate ways, but if we are then… if things between Kiba and I don't work out then we can get married or something, like you promised."

Something clicked in Naruto. He twitched like he was short circuit, "I Promised?" he wasn't asking because he didn't hear her, he was asking because he wanted to give her a chance to correct herself, but she didn't.

"Yeah, and after all you never go back on your word right?" she joked.

Naruto closed his eyes and exhaled. _"Boi!"_ Did he just hear what he thought he heard? He needed a second for Hinata's master plan to sink in… it made less sense the more he thought about it, so he just said.

"Uh sure, I'll think about it."

Hinata looked over her shoulder at the woman in white standing behind her. One moment Naruto was alone, the next he was visited by three women: one from the past, two from the present and only one he could choose to be with in the future. Kara shooed Hinata away.

"Think it over," Hinata told Naruto before returning to her kunoichi gang. They all giggled as she took a sit next to them. Naruto felt like every woman in the world had just decided to come together and connive a plan to drive him over the edge, and the problem was, women from other worlds were in on it too. It didn't make sense.

"Hey," Kara said happily.

"Kankuro looks like he's getting a little lonely dattebayo," Naruto contrasted her with a monotone voice before taking a sip from his can.

"What do you mean?"

"You know what I mean, I saw you getting all snuggled up with Kankuro," Naruto sighed.

"You must be drunker than I thought, and I'd never snuggle up with him. Not in a million years, I don't even know enough about him. I was just mustering the strength to come talk to you."

"_Really now?"_Naruto raised an eyebrow, "Just like how you don't know anything about me dattebayo?"

"I'd think I know enough about you… da-datte… that's a boy yo… yeah," it was hard to not imitate Naruto's verbal tic. Or to at least try.

"Then why have you been stringing me along for so long?"

"So long? It's only been two days and I'm not making it seem like I like you, I do like you. You're a pretty nice guy."

Nice.

"But?" Naruto asked.

Kara raised her arms in defence and shook her head, "There are no 'buts', I don't know what you want me to say right now, Naruto."

"Dammit, I want you to make things make sense," Naruto groaned.

"There's no sense anymore. It died the day Thanos chased us out of our own universe."

"No dattebayo, this isn't about Thanos, this is about us!"

"No it's not Naruto…" as Kara touched Naruto's shoulder, he was rushed by memories and ideas. Hundreds of memories. Memories of a green-goggled youngster vandalising the four Hokage faces. Memories of being chosen as a member of Team Seven. Memories of war. Memories of love. Memories of acceptance. Memories of rejection. Memories of Sasuke ramming multiple Chidoris through the chest flashed through Naruto's brain, but none of those attacks hurt him like Kara's words did. Naruto buffered, "Naruto, I want to make whatever you're feeling stop," Kara wrapped her firm hand around Naruto's.

"Then kiss me," Naruto quickly looked up.

"But…"

"But? You said no buts!" Naruto's blue eyes constricted.

"I've never kissed anyone before," Kara admitted. Naruto started to ease closer, "I'll… have to let you take the wheel," she gulped. His breathing was intense. Naruto's eyes were already closed. Shuri looked back at the moment. Her heart swallowed itself. Kara's eyes closed.

"Hey Naruto!" someone interrupted the moment.

"It's getting kinda cold," Conner cried, carrying a couple of cooler boxes and an umbrella, "And we can't enter your compound without you!"

* * *

_Forty Minutes Later – The Uchiha Compound_

Sasuke pulled his lips away from Sakura. The kunoichi was experiencing euphoria. She was sitting on Sasuke's double bed in her pink bikini. All she could muster was, "I can't believe this is happening, I've always dreamt about this but I never thought-,"

"Shhh," Sasuke shushed his woman with his finger. He walked out of the room but Sakura could still hear his voice. He was switching off lights throughout the house as he yelled, "This is not one of your adolescent fantasies, Sakura."

A light went off.

"We're not going to passionately kiss in the moonlight."

Another light clicked.

"We're not going to throw our clothes on the floor and be overwhelmed by some kind of intense heat."

The hallway went dark.

"What's going to happen is, I'm going to have my way with you," he walked into his bedroom, "And you're going to let me do whatever I want to do," the lights went out.

"Yes please," Sakura whispered.

"First of all, don't speak unless spoken to."

Sakura couldn't see Sasuke's body so she relied on the bright purple eye and the slightly brighter red one, "Can I call you daddy?" she asked.

Something blunt hit her in the back, "Were you spoken to?"

Sakura shut up.

"Take your bikini top off."

"Yes, Sasuke-kun-,"

"Sasuke-sama."

"Sasuke-sama," Sakura untied her bikini top and let it fall on the bed.

"I'd advise you to fold it up and put it in your mouth."

"Why?"

"So no one else can hear you scream," Sasuke said.

"I can take it," she said confidently.

"Suit yourself."

A fiery purple left arm appeared at Sasuke's side. He spun her around and pressed her face against the bed by the neck.

"My safeword's-," Sasuke tightened his grip on her neck.

"I don't do safewords, you've had enough when I think you've had enough," with her face still against the sheets, Sasuke pulled Sakura's ass up so it was in the air. He dropped her bikini bottom with one swift motion and spanked her.

"Ooh," she moaned. She reached out for her bikini top but Sasuke brought his fleshy right hand down on her ass again.

"Thank me," he spanked her again.

"Thank you, Sasuke-sama."

"Thank me!"

"Thank you, Sasuke-sama."

He spanked her harder. She grabbed a fistful of sheets and moaned into them. He spanked her again. Her toes curled. Sasuke placed his large palm on the woman's heated ass. "You belong to me now," Sasuke said. He made sure the last spank stung the hardest.

He stepped off the bed allowing Sakura to fall into a more comfortable position. She coughed as a sufficient amount of air finally flowed through her throat. One hand rubbed her sore backside whilst the other wiped the tears from her cheeks.

"What's wrong Sakura? Had enough?"

Sakura rolled around on the bed before staring daggers into Sasuke's eyes, "I told you before, I can take it."

Sasuke removed his shorts and threw them at the pink-haired kunoichi. His shorts smelled ripe, a mixture of his musky scent, sand and some sea salt. She didn't want to let go of them but she eventually tossed them aside knowing greater things were in store. Sasuke's eyes had vanished.

"Sasuke-kun?"

"It's Sasuke-sama!" the raven-haired Uchiha lifted her off the bed and banged her against the wall. He lifted her higher, threw her legs around his waist and bit her neck, "Say it."

"Sasuke-sama," she whispered.

He positioned himself at her entrance, "Say it again."

"Sasuke-saaa!"

He thrust so hard she hit her head on the wall. She grabbed some skin but Sasuke's sweaty back offered little leverage. He filled her up every time he thrust into her. Sakura couldn't hold it in. She screamed. Sasuke thrust harder.

"Thank you, Sasuke-sama!"

He grunted.

"Harder, please!" she begged.

Sasuke carried the pink-haired kunoichi onto his bed. They rolled themselves around in the sheets. At some point Sakura tried to take over but Sasuke banged her against the headrest for trying such a thing. She pulled on his hair. He sucked on her chest leaving a fleshy pink wound.

"Fuuuuck!" she moaned.

Her body vibrated vigorously. She tightened around him. His thrusting slowed as he squirted thick warm liquid into her.

"Ooh," Sakura trembled as she detached from Sasuke and rolled onto the empty space next to him on the double bed. They were both breathing heavily. Eventually their exhaustion matched and their breathing synchronised, "So…" Sakura said through the panting.

Sasuke had his right arm under his pillow. His Susanoo arm faded as his eyes went black, "Yeah," he turned to the pink-haired kunoichi. In a year Sakura's breasts had grown from a flat-chested A-cup to a handful B-cup, and Sasuke was happy to just watch her perky breasts rise and fall as she breathed. It lulled him into a sleepy state.

"Where… do we go… from here?" Sakura asked.

"To sleep."

"I'm serious, what do we do now?"

"I'm serious too, Sakura, I need to rest for the upcoming battle," Sasuke rolled over and faced the wall to sleep. Sakura's breathing slowed…

"Oh. Okay," she said switching her end table lamp off.

In the darkness Sasuke commented, "I'm sorry for hurting you."

Sakura sighed, "It's okay… sometimes when a girl falls in love and it's true love, her feelings don't change that easily… honestly, they _can't_ change…"

Sasuke had already fallen asleep.

* * *

_Meanwhile – The Hyuuga Compound_

Hinata sat in front of a large mirror in her bedroom. She pulled her earrings off before dropping them in a heart-shaped box. She closed her eyes, then the box.

"Kiba," she looked over her shoulder. The man was out. Unconscious on the woman's large bed. Hinata growled. He had spread himself across the whole bed, only leaving room for Akamaru. The hound usually slept at the foot of their bed, but somehow Kiba forced him to migrate to her side of the tracks. Hinata stood up and placed her hands on her hips. "KIBA!" he didn't flinch. Kiba could've been dead for all she knew. She rushed over to the side of the bed. Hinata shook the young man. He mumbled, groaned and moaned but he didn't wake up.

"Come on, you can't honestly tell me you're that drunk," Hinata shouted in an adorable hushed voice. She turned to the dog in an action she would quickly regret. The Hyuuga realised that Kiba weighed almost twice as much as she did, but Akamaru was light for someone his size.

"Get off, you pooch," Hinata wrapped her tiny arms around the dog and tried to lift it. Scared, he flipped onto his back and squirted urine on Hinata. The Hyuuga woman screamed. The screaming woke Kiba up who, instinctively, jumped off the bed and began spinning. Kiba was extremely drunk. Hinata was too drunk to process things at the speed a ninja usually would. And Akamaru, the only one who could exercise good judgment, was a dog… and they just read their owners' emotions so… things weren't looking too good.

"Man-Beast Taijutsu: Fang Over Fang!" Akamaru turned into a Kiba clone and spun with his owner. Shit hit the fan as the rotation turned into a Fang Over Fang. If Kiba wasn't so drunk, the deadly technique would've done more than simply graze Hinata's side and smash into the nearby wall, knocking both Kiba and Akamaru out and, leaving Hinata free to fall onto the empty bed in pain.

* * *

_Meanwhile – Tenten's Apartment_

"Lee!"

"Lee, get down from there," the Hyuuga genius tried to calm his best friend down as the Beautiful Blue Beast of the Leaf dodged him using chairs, tables, pots and pans. Neji looked around for Tenten, who was hiding behind an overturned round table.

"Aren't you going to help me?" Neji cried.

"You're the one who gave him the alcohol!" the Chinese kunoichi cried. Luckily for the pair, Lee finally collapsed onto the woollen carpet, "Quickly! Before he wakes up!" Tenten screamed.

"Can it will you, you'll wake him up!"

"Hey! Who are you?" the drunken brawler questioned as he backflipped onto a chair, it topped as he glided across the room using the chandelier. Neji reached out but he wasn't fast enough or sober enough to grab the shinobi's ankle. Lee landed on a table and prepared for war. Neji's momentum carried him into a flower pot. Soil dripped onto his shirt.

"Fine, I'll do it myself!" Tenten threw a scroll at the man. He slapped it aside, the scroll exploded into a heavy metal ball, stumbled off the table, got slapped in the face by wood and passed out on the kitchen floor. Neji groaned as he fell, tired, onto the living room couch next to Tenten. The duo thought Lee would be able to handle his liquor now that he was older. They were wrong. Very wrong.

But now that Lee was out, they took a moment to stare at each other. Neji smirked as Tenten began laughing, "If Lee hadn't drained me this would've been the perfect time to make out," she realised.

Neji gave her the cutest peck on the lips, "Don't worry, I'm sure we'll have time again after this whole psycho murder scandal blows over," he smirked. Tenten returned the peck.

"Of course we will, I'm holding you to it."

Neji rarely ever showed emotion, so whenever he made an emotional promise, Tenten made sure he kept it, even when he didn't want to a couple of days later.

* * *

_Meanwhile – Namikaze Compound_

Kara moved quickly, literally and relationship-wise. Literally, her speed rivalled Wally, and relationship-wise, she always got into relationships with either, people that didn't like her or people that weren't ready to be in a relationship. After the year-long tour Naruto was someone who was ready to start a relationship the second he returned to Konoha. So out of all the youngsters you would've expected those two to get down to business the fastest, but…

The two of them were fully clothed in the main Namikaze Compound House with Barbara and Shuri.

Fully kitted out in pyjamas, the four of them sat around a low wooden table with the television playing in the background. Naruto had written words on the bottom of glasses and filled those glasses with sake. They were playing a drinking game where they would pass the glasses onto the next person until someone decided they would drink, then each person would drink from their glass and talk about the word under the glass.

Naruto tilted his head back and drank. The three ladies also drank their glasses down to empty.

"Family," Naruto read.

"Favourite person to fight," Kara shrugged.

"Sex," Barbara almost spat her sake out.

"Ambitions," Shuri shrugged.

"Well, since I'm going first," Naruto's speech wasn't that bad for someone who'd drank at least seven bottles of alcohol, "My blood family isn't that large. It actually only consists of one person right now, and that's Karin… who disappeared a while back. Long story short, there aren't many of my family left after my parents died nineteen years ago. But, my actual family consists of twelve people and it could be growing to nearly thirty in less than a week. All of you are my family, my brothers, my sisters… well not you Kara because I couldn't date my sister," Supergirl giggled. Shuri's giggling was a little more awkward.

"Favourite person to fight," Kara spoke next, "Well she's not really a bad guy, but if I had to say my dream match-up would probably be against… Miss Martian. She's a good match for me, she's strong, I'm strong, she's faster, I'm probably faster, she can walk through walls, I could burst through walls, she grew up in cold weather, I can freeze people…" she froze.

Barbara waved her hand over her face, "You good?"

"I think she's demonstrating her freeze powers," Shuri silenced everyone.

"Huh?" Kara snapped back into reality.

"Sex!" Barbara yelled to keep the conversation.

"Yes, please," Kara laughed. Naruto glared at her before breaking down in laughter.

Barbara carried on, "I'm actually a virgin, when you're hanging with Batman, Robin and Nightwing all day you don't usually have time to get down and dirty with anyone. But if I'm being honest, when I first got to the Bat-cave, I did have a little bit of a crush on Nightwing, until I found out he had a thing for Starfire."

"Same here sister… the virgin part not the Nightwing thing," Kara mumbled.

"Here too," Naruto said.

"I'm surrounded by virgins," Shuri remarked.

"Have you had sex?" Barbara asked.

"Nope."

All four of them laughed for a solid minute before calming down and turning to Shuri for her speech about 'Ambitions'.

"I'm pretty sure my ambitions are the same as everyone else's at the moment, I just this Thanos mess to end so I can drink without having to worry about tomorrow," said Shuri.

"Me too, I just want to watch the sunrise on a grateful universe," Naruto said dramatically… the ladies stared at him.

"The fuck?"

"It sounded like the right thing to say. Anyway speaking of worrying about tomorrow. Tomorrow is now today, so we need to go to bed," Naruto groggily got up. Everyone followed him to their feet.

The sake hit them hard.

_BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!_

Kara looked down at the unconscious young adults, "Lightweights," her super liver broke down the alcohol making it as intoxicating as water. She reluctantly carried them back up to Naruto's room because it had a large queen-sized bed, that could hold all four of them. She placed Shuri and Barbara on either side before laying Naruto down in the middle and sleeping by his side. She slept on his arm and threw it over her shoulder so she could sleep on his chest.

"I love you," he muttered. He kissed her on the forehead.

"What happens when Thanos is dead?"

"Huh?"

"I don't wanna go home."

"This is your home now. Here. In my arms… my slightly dead arm."

A tear appeared on Shuri's flawless face. It drifted over her nose and dropped onto the sheets. She sighed as she drifted off to sleep.


	6. Massacred

_Unknown Time – Vormir_

"_I'm sorry, little one."_

Thanos woke in a watery landscape with the Soul Stone in hand. Four figures sloshed through the water towards him. Proxima Midnight, Ebony Maw, Corvus Glaive, and Black Dwarf surrounded their father and helped him to his feet.

"Where is Gamora?" Proxima asked.

"Gamora is… no longer with us. I needed a sacrifice, my children, and she paid the price," Thanos wiped some water off of his clothes as he made it onto dry land. The Mad Titan's children glared at each other wondering what would have happened if they were on that hill with Thanos instead of Gamora. Five figures escaped the shadows and made their presence known. The Black Order rushed to Thanos' side again after a second of contemplation.

The Flash, Anko, Kurenai, Batman and Captain America stood at one end of an open battlefiend. Thanos silently observed his opponents. All five of them stepped forward in unison. Thanos took a step back. The Black Order charged. The heroes picked up speed. The Black Order was already at full speed. The two groups clashed.

Maw and the Flash had made eye contact from across the field so they were the first to clash. The Flash threw a supersonic punch. Maw flew back. Flash homed in him.

Black Dwarf lumbered past Flash and went after Kurenai who turned to flower petals before he could get to her, "You're dealing with me," a skinny purple-haired kunoichi came onto the battlefield kicking and screaming. Black Dwarf fell to the ground.

Proxima swung her staff. Batman caught it. She tried to pull it back but the bat had a grip on it. In an electrically deepened voice, Batman told her, "This is going to be your last battle," before kicking her away leaving the glowing staff in his hand.

Captain America leapt through the air and dropkicked Corvus. The unattractive humanoid pulled out a sceptre that he freely swung around his hand. Cap shrugged. Shields shot out of from both forearms. They danced the night away.

The Flash sped towards Maw. Something metallic wrapped around the speedster's leg. Maw waved him goodbye. He was flung away.

Anko punched Dwarf's gut. The creature swung a massive fist. He caught her torso. She flipped over and hit the ground. Kurenai appeared above him. Sensing her, he grabbed her leg and bashed her into the ground, "Roll," Anko yelled as they both dodged his axe.

Batman threw a few smoke bombs down. Proxima attacked before they exploded. She climbed his arm and wrapped her legs around his neck. He fell backwards. The smoke bombs went off. She put her hand on the floor and flipped him onto his back. All of his smoke bombs rolled out of their open pouch in his utility belt.

Captain America deflected most of Corvus' hits but one shot to the left leg forced him to take a knee. Cap uppercut him. Corvus staggered backwards. The bearded soldier threw a few punches. Corvus had to take them.

The Flash landed on his feet and rushed back into the battlefield. His pace slowed as the smoke bombs created a massive cloud that enveloped the whole battlefield. After taking a second to comprehend the size of the thing he blitzed into it.

Anko pulled out a scroll that generated her weapon of choice. A kunai knife. The Dwarf grinned. His axe was humungous compared to her petty kunai knife. "Now I know what you're thinking. How much damage could I do with this knife? But what you should be asking yourself is… how much damage can she do with this knife?" As Anko said that, a tree formed around Dwarf. It wrapped around his body and held him tightly. Kurenai emerged from the tree. Anko threw the knife at her ally. Suddenly they were both submerged in thick heavy smoke.

Corvus spun his sceptre and somehow smacked the back of Cap's head. He groggily stumbled around. Glaive went on the offence, mowing the Captain over with a series of strikes. Steve dodged the last attack. He fell onto his back, but pushed off with enough force to shatter Corvus' ribs. They fell to the floor as the smoke took over everything.

The Black Order sensed some foreign entity in the smoke.

Thanos sensed it.

Captain America sensed it.

Anko sensed it.

Kurenai sensed it.

The Flash sensed it.

Batman was the first to realise what it was.

The smoke cleared around Superman as he stood in all his unsaturated red and blue glory. As the purple smoke receded the Kryptonian made eye contact with the Mad Titan who took a defensive position. Superman never looked away from Thanos.

"Is this Thanos?" he asked nonchalantly.

"Apparently," the Flash said.

"Then let me end this."

Ebony Maw stepped in front of the Kryptonian, "No one disrespects the Supreme Conqueror of Worlds like that. Thanos is a god, and cannot be treated in such a -,"

Superman tapped Maw's chest. Maw flew back and landed next to Thanos. Dwarf broke the wood around him and rushed to Thanos' side along with Proxima and an injured Corvus.

Kal simply asked, "So when do you let your kids rest and fight for yourself?"

"With these four Infinity Gems I could fight anyone, no matter how powerful," Thanos grinned. Superman taunted him to fight. The Mad Titan said, "But with this mind I know I'm not stupid enough to start a fight with you. I know two of the Stones are on earth and I'm obviously going to get there before you do. Your impatience has cost you dearly."

Superman charged.

**Space Stone.**

Thanos and his children were enveloped in a cloud that transported them across the universe. Superman missed them by a split second.

"How long will it take me to get from here to earth?"

"Obviously the same amount of time it took you to get from earth to here…" Anko rolled her eyes. Pebbles rose from the ground. Superman disappeared into the clouds, "Speaking of… how do _we_ get off this big rock?"

* * *

**PERFECTLY BALANCED**

**CHAPTER SIX**

**Massacred**

* * *

_Morning – Namikaze Compound_

"It's morning," Naruto woke and let the ray of sunlight heat his body up. The air was nice, clean, and cool, but the sunlight kept the group warm, along with the warmth radiating from their bodies onto each other. Naruto sat up and grabbed his head. He wasn't hungover… just tired. He stretched quickly as memories rushed into his head. All four of them were sleeping in the same bed, but Naruto knew nothing had gone down the previous night.

"_Kara? I mean, I could have fallen for any of the female superheroes, but I fell in love with her. What could have happened if I loved… Barbara?"_ Naruto looked to his left at the sleeping redhead.

"_**She seems too uptight."**_

Naruto didn't mind Kurama's opinions for once. He simply scrolled through heroes and asked for his 'all-knowing' opinion on them.

"_Shuri?"_

"_**Nah, I prefer Kara."**_

"_Cassie?"_

"_**The only person I think would've been a good match for you other than Kara."**_

"_Raven? I actually did have a little crush on her at first."_

"_**Too moody."**_

_Damn, never heard of opposites attract? Artemis?"_

"_**She's always hanging around Kid Flash. Even if we did have a chance with her, she seems too clingy."**_

"_How about Miss Martian?"_

"_**You know she reminds you too much of Sakura."**_

"_Um… Zatanna?"_

"_**Magicians creep me the fuck out!"**_

"_You know we can walk on water right? Hinata?"_

"_**You're not seriously considering taking her little deal are you?"**_

"…"

"Before you say anything, nothing happened last night," Kara whispered. Naruto didn't notice her wake up.

"I know," Naruto laughed. Did he regret not sleeping with Kara? No. Sometimes to keep things going you need to slow them down. As cliché as it sounds, life is a marathon and so is love, "I think it's better that we didn't dattebayo. I'm gonna go check up on the others."

Naruto jumped over Shuri and put his shirt on. Kara sat up. Naruto looked back at the scarily powerful woman. Kara smiled. Naruto began blushing.

"What?" he asked

"I wouldn't believe you if you told me that we were in danger," Kara said.

"In danger?"

"Thanos. I'm just a bit surprised by how calm we are. We haven't done any bit of training."

"Because we have nothing to worry about. I mean, we have the Avengers, and the Justice League and the Shinobi Alliance so… one man can't survive all of that. We might as well enjoy our time here, because as soon as he's defeated you guys are gonna have to leave da-."

Super Girl blitzed to him. Naruto didn't even get to blink.

"How the shit?" his eyes were still fixated on the bed.

"I don't want to leave you. I want to stay."

"You're not going to," Naruto gave the shorter blonde a hug around the waist. Kara's arms wrapped around his neck. They held that position for a minute. Kara's head lifted a bit.

"There's three people sitting downstairs."

Naruto left the superheroine upstairs and went down to go investigate the mystery figures.

"Robin? Peter? Kaldur'ahm?" Naruto made his way to the bottom step.

Robin's hair was messy, and without his mask he looked so tranquil. The young man was slouched over the kitchen counter blowing on his coffee to cool it. Peter was to his right. He had his head on the counter and had a cup of water in his right hand. Kaldur'ahm had left a space for Naruto between Robin and himself. Naruto ruffled his hair up a bit more before walking up to the heroes.

"Call me, Tim… Tim Drake," Robin said as Naruto sat on the open seat.

"Well, Tim Drake, what brings you to my humble abode?" Naruto didn't really know what 'abode' meant, but he'd heard people using it to refer to their homes so he did just that. He looked over to Peter, "And what's got him so down? Hangover?"

Robin spoke on Peter's behalf, "Yeah, it was his first time dealing with alcohol, but knowing him he'll be okay."

"No I won't."

Kaldur'ahm spoke next, "When I first got here, I felt so weird. I didn't get what people meant about this world being so clean and fresh. It felt heavy to me."

"Why is that?" Naruto asked.

"I didn't know at the time but after a few nights I realised it was because of the visions… I know you've been haunted by the nightmares too, Naruto. Nightmares where your friends turn to dust in front of you, and you don't know how to stop them… how to save them."

Naruto remained silent.

"You know just as much I do that Thanos is coming for the seventh Stone, and I blame myself as much as you for relaxing when the end is at our doorstep," Tim got up and blew on his coffee, before extending his free hand, "And since I don't want to die with regrets I just want to make sure there's no beef between us."

"Nothing but ramen," Naruto laughed.

"I wouldn't mind having some myself," Peter groaned.

"Drink your water," Robin pointed at the cup.

* * *

_Meanwhile – Hyuuga Compound_

"I'm sorry babe," Kiba's apologies bounced off the annoyed woman like a squash ball. She was angrily walking around their little room fixing things, as she'd do when she was pissed, "I made a mistake."

"Mistake is an understatement."

Akamaru sat in the corner licking himself clean. Kiba rushed over to the Hyuuga Princess. He hopped over the blood-soaked sheets and wrapped his arms around her. "You know I'd never hurt you on purpose. I promise to never get that drunk again, for as long as I'm with you, and that'll be forever," he rested his chin on her shoulder. Akamaru snuggled up against her leg. They both ignored the strong scent of dried urine.

"You can't just sweet talk your way out of this one," Hinata tried to fight it.

Kiba licked her neck, "You sure?"

"Yes."

He nibbled on her jawline, "You sure you're sure?"

"… I need to take a shower."

He kissed her cheek. "How bout we take a shower together," he growled.

"Ooh."

Akamaru followed them.

* * *

_Meanwhile – Uchiha Compound_

"Hmmm… Sasuke-kun?" Sakura groaned as she finally woke up. Her hazy green eyes scanned the empty room. It was larger than her own, perfect for two people. A ray of sunlight was poking through the white lace curtains and highlighting the patches of sweat that remained where Sasuke used to be. The pink-haired kunoichi, still naked, wrapped herself in sheets and swung her feet off the bed onto the cold wooden floorboards, "Sasuke-kun?"

The time when everything would become halved was approaching. Sasuke could feel it. His Rinnegan, along with the year-long mission for atonement, gave him a sense of connection with the world, a connection rivalled only by Naruto's Sage Mode. The sombre Uchiha was standing on the Uchiha Main Compound's roof, clad in his classic poncho and black outfit, with a pair of black sandals and a set of deadly eyes. _"You've face tougher enemies! You've fought the great Itachi, and have killed him in battle. What weakness has crept up into you, Sasuke Uchiha?"_

A hand grabbed his shoulder. Shocked, he turned to look over his shoulder.

The visions that had been invading his mind were being amplified by Sasuke's horrible memories. The simple act of someone grabbing his shoulder reminded him of the scariest presence he'd ever faced. He turned to stare into the bright white eyes of a grey-haired woman who was escaping an interdimensional portal with tears streaming down her pale cheeks.

"I hate you… Hagoromo… Hamura… You both belong to me!" he remembered turning to Naruto, wondering how the hell they were going to defeat someone they couldn't even keep up with. Kaguya, although not even a trained fighter, was faster, stronger and had triple the stamina they're combined reserves would've had. Seeing her in tears almost brought them to tears.

"Sasuke-kun?" Kaguya was replaced by Sakura, "You're crying," she noted.

Sasuke didn't bother wiping the single tear away, he brushed her hand away and walked downstairs, "It's none of your concern, and put on some real clothes. You look like a whore."

* * *

_Noon – Marvel Earth_

Dr Strange circled around Vision in a large empty warehouse. Cyborg, Wonder Woman, Iron Man, Yamato, Black Panther, Star Lord, Black Widow, Bruce Banner, Scarlet Witch, and Drax were standing around the two Stone holders as they debated running away.

"There is no need to fear Thanos. There are literally three universes fighting him, he stands no chance," Vision convinced himself.

"We can't take that chance. Thanos will be trying to obtain the Mind Stone, the Time Stone and the Multiverse Stone, which is located in the Naruto World, in the Anime Universe. If we escape into the Naruto World we can be safe for now, until we finally get that gauntlet away from him."

Blue clouds appeared. Everyone froze. Vision gulped.

"He's here."

"The Naruto World huh?" the purple Titan walked out of the clouded portal with The Black Order behind him. The portal closed, "It's amazing that every Stone is in this universe except that one, isn't it Dr Strange? Anyway, thank you. Once I kill everyone in this room, I'll use the interdimensional portal on the ship to transport myself to your… Naruto World."

"The Mind Stone _and _the Time Stone. Perfect," Ebony Maw commented.

"I'll just take them both!" Thanos said.

**Space Stone**

Vision was suddenly pulled towards Thanos who grabbed his face and broke it with his hand.

"Shit!" was the common expression.

Dr Strange threw his arm out.

**Time Stone**

Thanos' fist unclenched as Vision's head reconstructed and his body flew backwards.

"Thanks," Vision took to the skies.

"Damn, your Time Stone!" Thanos got ready to fight. The Black Order did too.

"I guess this is our last stand against Thanos," Dr Strange created a magical whip.


	7. Escape

_Noon – An Empty Warehouse On Marvel Earth_

"Something tells me we should've sent more than three people to each post," Black Widow unfolded her arms.

"Well there's more than three of us now," Dr Strange swung his magic whip around.

Thanos looked around, "All you have to do is give me the last two Stones and none of you have to die… at least not yet," Thanos lifted his foot onto a box and placed his heavy golden fist on his knee. He didn't even have time to change out of his beige jeans. "Unfortunately when I get the last Stone who dies and who lives is out of my power. The genocide will be _very _random."

"One last thing before we end your mad rampage Thanos, why?" Dr Strange had to ask.

Thanos laughed, "Simple!"

"COMING IN HOT!"

* * *

**PERFECTLY** ** BALANCED**

**CHAPTER SEVEN**

**Escape**

* * *

Something slammed into the Mad Titan before he could react. The Black Order jumped away. The smoke was cleared away by the flying fists. Thanos grabbed Superman's cape and threw him into the concrete column. He punched the wall, missing the Man of Steel's face. The Kryptonian's eyes lit up. "DIE!" the beams ripped the roof apart.

Proxima turned just in time to parry Wonder Woman's sword with her staff. Black Widow was approaching. She hissed.

Corvus went straight after Cyborg. "Crud," the youngest Justice League member turned his arms to blasters. Corvus pulled out a sceptre and dodged both lasers. The alien tackled his half-machine opponent.

Dwarf almost destroyed Black Panther with his axe, but the African King sensed the fat alien coming. Black Panther ducked, just as a big green behemoth leapt over him. The Hulk crashed into Black Dwarf, forcing him to drop his axe.

Black Panther turned around and jumped into Ebony Maw who was too focused on an unarmoured Tony Stark to see the flying black cat. Five panther claws were drilled into the loyal alien's side. He jumped back and bled on the concrete floor. He growled. T'Challa got into a fighting stance. Tony pressed his chest repeatedly until the red and yellow suit formed around him.

**Space Stone**

Superman flew through Thanos and through a couple of walls. Thanos cracked his neck. Wood wrapped around the Mad Titan, immobilising him. Yamato approached to try and contain him.

**Power Stone**

The wood stood no chance. Thanos violently Spartan-kicked Yamato through a wall. Star Lord flew past, firing a couple of shots as he whizzed through the air. Thanos blocked them with his gauntlet. Dr Strange fired magical metal strips at the open glove which kept it open. Thanos tried to clench. Vision fired a high-intensity Mind Stone beam that Thanos could only block with his right arm.

"Coming in hot!" the Flash landed in the warehouse. He let go of Anko, Captain America, Kurenai and Batman as he rolled a couple of feet away. He stood up next to Wonder Woman.

"Superman already used that one!" she shouted before blocking Proxima's punch with her bracelets. The superwoman flew away, Proxima chased after her.

"Really?" Flash groaned.

Superman broke through another wall, grabbed Thanos and flew through the roof with him.

Tony stopped fighting to look up, "Did that guy seriously fly around the world just to do that?"

"Around the world huh?" Barry looked around, "I think I might copy him again," the speedster sped away. He circled the earth a couple of times before using its curvature to take off into space.

He slammed into Thanos, accelerating them faster into outer space.

"You… you… you can't… you can't stop me!" Thanos lifted his right fist over the two heroes. He brought it down quickly. Flash dodged it. Thanos punched Superman in the back over and over to no avail. Superman sped up.

"Hey, it's getting kinda hot in here," Flash remarked, he stood up perpendicular to Thanos and pushed off, speeding them up. Clark had one place in mind, he was taking him to the sun and nothing could stop them.

Thanos hit Superman in the back a few more times. The Man of Steel retaliated by slamming the Mad Titan into the molten surface.

"AHHHH!" Thanos screamed. He gripped Superman's suit only to realise the golden glove was melting.

Captain America went straight for Corvus. He struck the alien in the rib, filling him with pain. Cyborg took the opportunity to load up shoulder blasters that ripped through Corvus' skin, frying him, and eventually killing him. Cyborg fell to the ground, drained.

"We make a good team," Cyborg laughed, tiredly.

"We got lucky kid, knowing Thanos he's probably coming back down," Steve yanked the oxygen mask off. He took a deep breath in, "That thing was irritating my beard," he said, throwing on the floor the only thing that kept him alive on the trip from Vormir to Earth.

"Sir, knowing Superman, Thanos is probably already dead."

**Power Stone**

Thanos used almost all the power he could muster to blow Superman all the way to Mercury. The Titan floated away from the superhot star.

**Space Stone**

Thanos just floated into a dark blue cloud of energy.

He landed, superhero-style (with fist on the ground), on a concrete floor. Ironically, he was surrounded by real heroes when he took in his surroundings. Thanos tried to get up but he couldn't help but limp. His back was charred. That's what he got for not wearing his armour. "Who's next!" he was pissed.

"Where's your Superman?" Steve got his shields ready.

* * *

_10:30 – Namikaze Compound_

Naruto, in his most iconic black and orange jumpsuit, walked out into the centrepiece of the Namikaze Compound. He walked up to the Wishing Fountain with a coin in hand. He closed his eyes and flicked it in, not really sure what to wish for.

"Hey."

Naruto spun to face the voice's source. His heart stopped. "Ino."

"You wanna sit?" she asked, pointing to the fountain's marble edge.

Naruto looked around for a scapegoat, but was forced to sit down next to the woman who'd most recently caused conflict within his heart, "Um… sure." They sat.

She sighed, "So yesterday happened." Naruto jokingly nodded, "I don't drink much Naruto, so when I did get super drunk, like last night, it was just an overwhelming surge of emotions and… and…"

He placed his hand on her shoulder, "Ino… it's okay. The world opened my eyes to a lot of things dattebayo. You've made me realise that I'm not an expert at love. I'm surprised it took me Sakura, Hinata and you to realise that, but I'm not. I'm great at other things, so in order to keep my life balanced and safe I need to stick to the things I'm good at."

"What are you trying to say?" Ino asked.

"Basically, love isn't for me dattebayo, I'm a fighter, the visions I've been having, the timing of just everything, they all prove that what I'm meant to do is fight and that's what I've got to focus fully on."

"That sounds… really unhealthy. You can't be one of those guys who takes yourself off the market just because some girls don't like you, there are a lot of girls who'd die to be with you. Wait, visions?"

"That's the problem. If the women I chase after are too busy chasing after other guys, then why should I satisfy the women that chase after me?" Naruto stood up, choosing to ignore her question about the visions.

"Wha-," Ino stood up with him.

"I actually remembered I have a date with Konohamaru," Naruto chuckled, "We'll talk later."

"… What the fuck?" Ino stomped her foot, "And people say I get mood swings."

* * *

_Sunrise – Marvel Mercury_

The sun gradually moved across the Mercury terrain. Slowly, the sunlight ran over an injured Man of Steel. Clark soaked up the sunlight with his skin. Strength flowed through him as his veins ripened. The Kryptonian stood up.

_Noon – Marvel Earth_

Thanos moved towards Vision who fired a mind beam to slow him down. He blocked with the slightly melted Infinity Gauntlet. Cyborg fired at the Titan's side. Thanos blocked with his right arm. Star Lord firing at the Titan's back stopped him in his tracks.

"What's your plan, Stephen?" Vision asked.

**Power Stone**

Vision fell back into some boxes. Star Lord broke through a supporting column. Cyborg slammed into another load-bearing column which brought a section of the warehouse down. Thanos cracked his neck again, as if it didn't hurt.

"Now then!"

Superman came down on top of him with some of the roof. Dr Strange used the metal strips to keep Thanos' fist open. Anko used some serpents to keep the man's arm held down. Steve jumped on the Mad Titan's back, sensing his weakness. Thanos screamed. Superman pulled the gauntlet off and held it to the sun.

"It Is Finished," he proclaimed.


	8. Reality

_11:34 – Former Squad Seven Training Field_

"Konohamaru! Why did you ask to meet here in such a hurry?" Naruto asked walking up to the three wooden poles in the middle of the clearing. The younger shinobi had sent a shadow clone to his house an hour ago asking the future Kage to partake in a seminar of some sorts. Naruto had to remind the kid that he didn't have to schedule some sort of meeting when he wanted to meet him. Konohamaru was like Naruto's student, in fact he _was_ Naruto's student. He'd learnt half his arsenal from the blonde and idolised him like some sort of father figure.

"Naruto-niisan, I think it's about time we sparred again," Konohamaru smirked.

"Sparred? What's with this sudden need to train?" Naruto asked.

"Does it matter? Everyone seems to be stressed about Thanos, I think it's about time I stress too, right?" Konohamaru joked.

Naruto laughed, "Sure, Konohamaru. But not too intense, after all… Thanos could appear any moment, wouldn't want to be too sweaty when we beat him up dattebayo."

Leaves blew through the open green fields as the two combatants got ready. Naruto took a deep breath in, inhaling some dust. Konohamaru crossed his fingers in anticipation.

* * *

**PERFECTLY BALANCED**

**CHAPTER EIGHT**

**Reality**

* * *

"Reality is often disappointing," Thanos said.

**Reality Stone**

**Soul Stone**

Superman stared at the glove in his hand. It waved at him before disappearing as the Mad Titan vanished. Clark looked around the desolate, wet and grey warehouse. Corvus jumped to his feet to kick Dr Strange away.

Thanos broke through a group of boxes in the darkness to punch Vision in the face. He caught the entire superhero gang by surprise. Scarlet Witch rushed to protect her lover but Thanos kept running.

**Power Stone**

Scarlet Witch was flung through the wall. Thanos grabbed the android's face and ripped the Mind Stone out of his head. Iron Man retaliated but Thanos slotted the new stone into the biggest slot on his gauntlet. He gritted his teeth as the power flowed through him. Iron Man spun in mid-air to kick the Mad Titan.

**Space Stone**

Tony froze. The warehouse collapsed and stuck around the billionaire, forming a second layer of armour that he could not break. The sunlight fell on all of them as the warehouse moulded around Iron Man. Thanos threw the cocooned Tony on the ground. Suddenly, everyone was outside.

**Power Stone**

He raised his foot over the cocoon's head.

"I'll kill you!"

"WAIT!" Dr Strange got up. Glaive forced Stephen to ground. "Why are you doing this?" Stephen asked.

Thanos limped around a bit, "Finally. Someone is willing to ask…"

**Reality Stone**

"See… my destruction is not meaningless." Thanos created an illusion of a blossoming world, "Titan was like most planets. Beautiful, tranquil, too many mouths, not enough to go around… but for a while, we were safe," Thanos started.

"Until we were attacked by the Demon with the Red Eyes. He told us our world was filled with too many imbalances. We drank. We gambled. We partook in too many vices. He wanted us to find some sort of code to give Him full power over the universe. If we found it, then He'd forgive us," he sighed.

"I realised that most of the Titans didn't believe in the Demon's threat so I advised a quick culling of the population to appease the Demon… but they didn't want to listen… to me or to Him" the reality switched to a destroyed version of a beautiful world.

"They called me a madman… This madman is the last surviving Titan after the Demon with the Red Eyes took it upon Himself to wipe out man, woman, queen, peasant, abled and disabled alike. He basically told me, specifically, that if I get Him this code then I can rest… watch the sun rise on a grateful multiverse… a perfectly balanced multiverse that didn't even know it'd been saved… imagine if the Demon was doing all of this. Believe me, He wouldn't have gone easy on any of you," Thanos stared at Dr Strange, "That's why I need that Stone. To keep Him happy."

… "Take it," Dr Strange said.

Even Thanos was a little surprised. His monologue worked. The bright green Stone floated into Thanos' gauntlet. The main six slots were all filled. Thanos flipped his hand over to a smaller slot in the centre of the palm of his hand.

"Well done Strange, when I'm done, half the multiverse will still be alive. Let's hope they remember your sacrifice."

The Black Order surrounded the injured Titan.

**Space Stone**

They were gone.

"Why?" Clark asked.

"He'll take some time to heal. We need to go to the Anime Universe… it's time for the Alamo."

* * *

"Don't worry Konohamaru, maybe next time you'll beat me," Naruto helped the bruised ball of energy up to his feet. Naruto had battled the hyperactive Sarutobi using basic taijutsu and a couple of shadow clones. Konohamaru still had a long way to go before he could become the Eighth Hokage, which he'd vowed to become.

"No, no," Konohamaru sulked. Naruto placed his hand on the boy's ruffled hair. Konohamaru looked into the blonde's eyes.

"What's up Konohamaru?"

The lad's eyes dropped. He wrapped his arms around his mentor's waist, "Naruto-niisan. I don't want to die."

"Whoa, where's this coming from? All because I beat you in a spar?"

"The spar was just an excuse to get you here. I've been nervous about this whole Thanos thing since the beginning of the week. What if we don't stop him? He's not like any other bad guy we've ever face Naruto-niisan!"

Naruto laughed before holding the teenager in his arms, "You have my word Konohamaru, I won't let anything happen to you dattebayo. And I never go back on my word, even if somehow Thanos makes it here, you'll be the safest person on that battlefield. Plus, we've only got a couple chapters left and the good guys always win in the end," Naruto said.

"What was that?"

"I said we're gonna win no matter what," Naruto smirked, "You know what? How about you stay out of the fight. Don't even worry about it. I'll ask one of the adults to bring a piece of Thanos for you when we win. Now run off and go take a shower," the blonde playfully slapped Konohamaru's backside as he dashed away.

A sparkly portal appeared just as Konohamaru disappeared. One by one, the adults rushed through the portal. Dr Strange was the first to confront Naruto. "Naruto, gather the youngsters… Thanos is coming."

The blonde looked around in utter disbelief. Even Superman, whom he believed was the strongest man alive, was badly beaten after stepping through the portal, "Then, we're gonna need some backup."


	9. The Last Supper

_Noon – The Namikaze Compound_

Young Justice, the Konoha 13 (minus Naruto), the Sand Siblings and Peter Parker were scattered around the giant main manor when Naruto walked in looking a little grey.

"There you are Naruto," obviously Kara was the first to respond. She flew over to the man and levitated in front of him, "Where did you go for so long?"

"Oh, the adults have returned," he explained. Kara saw the distress in his eyes, but chose to say nothing. She backed off a bit.

"Really?" she tried to sound more cheered up, "And how did it go?"

"Yeah," M'gann got up from her seat, she handed her drink to Sakura, "Did they say when we're going home?"

Naruto sighed. He took a look around his mansion. Savouring the little things he hadn't noticed until now. The walls were a beautiful white, but they had light cream decorations on them shaped like little foxes (probably Kushina's idea). It was a pattern, the first four foxes had two tails, whilst the fifth one would have only one. Making nine in total. Honestly, it would've been smarter to have three foxes in a row with three tails each, but Kushina wasn't smart in that way.

"Naruto," Jaime sounded worried.

"Thanos will be here by tomorrow… we should get prepared," Naruto scratched his chin.

"How? How do we prepare for someone who got past the Justice League?" Garfield turned away from Raven to stare at the blonde.

"I honestly don't know… but," he turned to Kara, "Even Clark looked a little shaken up."

"Wait, where are you going?" Peter cleared his throat.

"I'm… going to take it all in," Naruto explained before walking off. Kara followed him upstairs to the rooftop. Naruto swung the door open. He stumbled out onto the roof and collapsed against the wall. Kara helped him to the ground. Naruto calmed himself down by exhaling. The man stared at the sky.

"What's brought you up here?" Kara sat down next to him.

"I just don't know how I got here," Naruto said.

"You walked."

"No, I mean… here. Fighting Thanos. I used to be a normal kid, I used to be a normal ninja, an everyday shinobi. Then I found out I had some Demon Fox, had to fight a God of Judgement, then I had to fight a God of Shinobi, then I had to fight a Rabbit Goddess, and now I'm fighting a Multiversal God. It gets tiring, I just want to go back to being the boy who painted graffiti on the Hokage Monument. Before the heroism, before the love, before the dimensions, before everything."

Kara held his hand, "Hey, I can relate dude. I used to be just a little troublemaker too, and I know what it's like to have your world fall apart around you. It happened to me… literally though. It helped to have Kal, by my side to relate. So just know that I'll be here to be your shoulder to relate to… you're never alone."

Naruto stared at their intertwined fingers, "I don't deserve you, I shouldn't be sitting next to someone as beautiful as you."

"Oh no, you're not getting rid of me like you did Ino, I'm here to stay," Kara said tightening her grip on his hand.

He chuckled, "Why do you like me so much?"

"What's not to like?" Kara asked, "Physically you're not too bad. A little too perfect for someone who should've been in a World War. And mentally, you're just a good listener and a conversationalist, and it's hard to find someone who can balance being a good listener and a good conversationalist."

Naruto squeezed Kara's hand. He whispered, "I want to start a life with you dattebayo."

"Then why don't you?" she whispered back.

"Timing… it's just so off."

"Screw timing," she lodged her head between his neck and shoulder.

* * *

**PERFECTLY BALANCED**

**CHAPTER NINE**

**The Last Supper**

* * *

_Evening – Hokage Mansion_

"Where's Kakashi?" Naruto asked walking into the Hokage's office. He found Tony, Clark, Steve and Bruce standing around the Hokage's table analysing some sort of map. Banner was also in the room, he was in the corner talking to himself, or his alter ego or something. Natasha was the sole woman in the room and she was on her phone engaged in an intense conversation with someone.

Tony turned first. He took off his sunglasses, "Your president or whatever left a couple hours ago. By left I mean he went with Strange to some other universe. Knowing him it was probably to try make a truce or something."

"Do you know how I can talk to him?" Naruto asked.

"What did I just say? He vanished with Strange, who knows where they could be?" Tony shrugged.

"I know," Wong said, closing the door behind him.

"Wong? Where've you been?" Tony asked.

"I wasn't prepared to risk my life in a battle we couldn't win," he explained. Everyone looked around.

"So you think we can't win this?" Bruce Wayne asked.

Wong shook his head, "I never said we couldn't, I just meant that the odds were against us when I first heard about this quest to defeat Thanos. But there are quite a few of us, and there's only one of him. Dr Strange said all we had to do was take his glove off, so… how hard can it possibly be."

Clark smirked. The trio around the table returned to their map. Natasha never looked up from her phone in the first place. Tony nodded before saying, "Okay, well welcome to the team."

"Wong huh? Naruto," Naruto held his fist out. Wong looked at it. He wrapped his hand around the much younger man's fist.

"Nice to meet you."

* * *

_Minutes Later – Another Corner of the Anime Universe_

Wong formed a portal to Dr Strange's side.

"Wong? It's great to see you," Strange hugged the confused Master of the Mystic Arts. They nodded as they separated, "I'm just escorting our new friend, Kakashi, here. We're just gathering fighters for the upcoming battle against Thanos."

Naruto walked past Wong and entered a weird martial arts arena behind his former sensei.

"Kakashi, what exactly are we doing here?"

"Oh, Naruto, good to see you here. I'm just grabbing one or two allies," Kakashi explained.

"Allies?"

"Other members of our universe… but I don't want to bother too many people so I just collected two or three people so far," the silver-haired Kage explained. They walked through some doors and entered a large arena where hundreds of fans cheered on as two combatants battled at such a high speed that they only appeared every two seconds or so.

"Who's that?" Naruto wondered standing at the point where sunlight met shade.

The man with crazy black hair ended the battle with a powerful uppercut that knocked his opponent out. The muscular man in orange landed on the white tiled platform. He exhaled softly.

"And the winner, by knockout, is Goku!"

"What a workout," the thirty-year-old man laughed.

"We need him," Kakashi pointed.

"You want me to go get him for you dattebayo?" Naruto punched his open palm.

"You can't fight this one Naruto, he's on another level."

"There's no level above me," Naruto claimed walking out onto the field.

"Um… who? Who's this clown?" the announcer sorted through the sheets profusely, "Um… according to the schedule, it's supposed to be Gohan vs Tien now. Is this a late entry?" he wondered aloud.

"Goku, I need you to come with me," Goku didn't move, "That wasn't really a request. Either you come along, or I make you… please say 'make me', please say 'make me'."

Goku smirked, "Make me," Naruto activated the normal Kyuubi Chakra Mode. Goku used Kaio raised his index finger, "All I'll need… is a single finger."

"All I need are two," Naruto crossed his index and middle finger. It formed a second Naruto. Then a third. And a fourth. Then a fifth.

"What?" Goku looked around as the clones surrounded him, "Smokes and mirrors?" he wondered.

"Shadows!" Naruto explained as all twenty clones attacked at once.

Goku blocked a couple of kunai knives with his finger. His one finger reacted faster than twenty Naruto clones. Suddenly, Goku went on the offensive and poked the one he thought was the original but he disappeared in a cloud of smoke. Two clones grabbed at his shoulders. Goku turned and smacked, with one finger, both of them. Smoke. Goku kicked. Smoke. One clone grabbed Goku's legs and slammed him into the ground.

"Argh!" Goku released so much energy that all the clones turned the smoke. Naruto rose into the air. He landed on the edge of the platform. Goku launched himself at the blonde. The Saiyan grabbed Naruto and slammed him into the stands, "A log?"

"I thought you said you were only using one finger?"

"I'm not really at 100% right now, I don't have the patience for mind games."

"I was never really one for mind games myself, bring it!" Naruto forged his own grave.

The power escalation from Kaio Ken to Super Saiyan Blue destroyed a section of the platform.

"Sh-," Kakashi began.

"-it," Naruto finished.

Goku rushed in and destroyed the platform in the process. The energy pushed Kakashi back into the hallway. The Z-Fighters who were watching on from the stands wanted to dash in before Goku came down but the Saiyan was too quick.

"… Well, that just happened…" Krillin chuckled as the smoke began to clear around the blue-haired psychopath, "… Guys?"

Goku took a step back. Naruto was lying in a deep crater with a hole through his chest. The yellow flames died away around him. Kakashi rushed out onto the field.

"Ah, darn. I didn't realise how much power I put into that punch. He's… he's not dead is he?"

Kakashi stopped when he heard sinister laughter**. "Ahh… a Saiyan."**

"… Are you okay?" Goku heard the voice too.

"**A powerful race indeed. Long extinct or so I thought. You are on par with gods, Saiyan… but I am one,"** Naruto's hole began to stitch itself up.

"Does… does he often do that?" Goku asked the masked Hokage.

"It's been a while, not since he found out the Nine Tailed Demon Fox's name."

He began to release a lot of steam. Goku wasn't bothered. He just wanted to make sure Naruto wasn't dead. The hair grew. His whiskers ruffled. Naruto's canines stuck out. Kakashi backed up in time.

Naruto scratched Goku's cheek. Goku pushed Naruto into the earth. Naruto scratched Goku's arm. Goku pushed Naruto into the earth. Naruto scratched Goku's forehead. Goku pushed him into the stands.

"I'll admit your attacks are a lot more powerful now, but I'd stay down if I were you," Goku laughed. Naruto's crimson energy grew a tail.

"Um… Goku, I think you should stop the fight," Kakashi yelled.

"No, no… I wanna see where this goes."

"No I mean-," Naruto launched himself and clambered onto the Saiyan who simply tossed him off and sent him into another section of the stands. Kakashi looked at Naruto, then at Goku. He was too into the battle to realise that the scars on his skin were starting to bubble. Kakashi wanted to get Goku's attention for the upcoming battle, but Naruto's scratches were toxic. The more Goku exerted himself the faster the toxins spread through his body.

"Dad, maybe you need to slow down," Gohan shouted from the sidelines but Goku's mind was on the young blonde.

"Dad?" Kakashi hopped from the field to Gohan's side, "Naruto's going to hurt Goku," Kakashi told the youngster.

Gohan turned the Kakashi, before bursting out laughing, "No, we're trying to stop my dad from killing your guy," Gohan explained.

"Look at the scars on his body," Kakashi pointed to the scratches.

"Goku's been through worse. A few scratches won't take him down," Krillin explained.

"Kakarot's getting weaker," Vegeta noticed.

"Yeah, those scratches are poisonous. If we don't get him to a mednin he'll start to deteriorate."

"Vegeta… are you serious?" Yamcha asked. They all looked up at the blue-haired man in orange. Goku took another scratch from Naruto. He grabbed the two-tailed shinobi and threw him into the crater.

"Yeah, at first Kakarot was going easy on the kid, but his power level is plummeting at an accelerating rate."

Sweat began to collect on Goku's brow. He wanted to end his quickly, "Ka-me!"

"RASENGAN!"

Naruto contorted excruciatingly. The spiralling orb pushed Goku into the stands. He was panting heavily, "How… how did that even hurt me?" Goku looked down at the twisted wound… blood. He grabbed his stomach and coughed out some blood. Some of the thick scarlet violently splattered onto a spectator. Goku looked at his scars, "What are you?"

Naruto was suddenly shrouded in black and red chakra. A burst of chakra shot into the air. Kakashi stood up and looked over the crater. Naruto's pupils danced around his eye socket until it disappeared. His skin was covered in a thick vermillion ooze. Naruto crouched. His right draped over his shoulder as four tails swung around behind him. Faint red smoke escaped his toothy mouth.

The Z-Fighters got up. In the Naruto World there were only five people that could subdue Naruto in this state. Tsunade, the First Hokage, Yamato, Hinata and Sakura. Tsunade, Sakura and Yamato weren't in this world. Neither the First Hokage nor his necklace were able to subdue Naruto at the moment. And Naruto and Hinata weren't really on good terms at the moment. Kakashi could try something, but he couldn't touch Naruto, and the possessed teenager needed to be still for it to work.

"Everyone clear out!" the announcer shouted.

"No one touch him!" Kakashi screamed. Naruto looked around as people rushed out of the arena. Some even jumped over the sides of the arena to escape the dangerous zone, "His whole body's gone toxic."

"He's going after Kakarot," Vegeta jumped off. Naruto burst out, doing some summersaults as he approached the injured Saiyan.

"Galick Gun!" was the first attack the Prince of Saiyans could muster when he got to his rival's side. Naruto absorbed the technique as he landed on the stands, "Kakarot! Get up!"

"What's going on?" Goku asked. Vegeta looked forward. Naruto had dispersed the energy from the Galick Gun into balls of heavy chakra. Half of them were blue, the other half was red.

"What's taking so long?" Dr Strange asked. He turned to Naruto, "What… happened here?" Naruto turned

"Stephen! Evade!" Kakashi warned. Naruto gathered the destructive and creative energy into one purple ball. Dr Strange created a portal. Wong created a second portal. Naruto swallowed the purple ball, "What?" Naruto looked like he was about to vomit.

"Gross," Stephen had to admit.

Kakashi jumped towards the Jinchuuriki.

The Tailed Beast Bomb Blast grew in intensity as it approached a calm Dr Strange. The Wave entered Strange's portal and exited out Wong's portal. Naruto was focused on the impending wave. Kakashi was able to get close enough to form a Tailed Beast seal but Naruto vanished.

Goku clashed with him in mid-air. Touching Naruto burnt through his skin but the Saiyan plucked the blonde out of the air and slammed him into the crater. Kakashi darted to the Saiyan's side and weaved a few handsigns.

"Sealing Jutsu," a symbol appeared on Naruto's back. It spread over his body and restricted his chakra, "I'll have to quickly get him back to our world, you might as well come too, we need you."

"And you couldn't just ask?" Goku asked massaging his smoky hand.

"We did… Naruto's just not good with words," Kakashi shrugged.

* * *

_Evening – Namikaze Compound_

Naruto hadn't returned yet, but the youngsters (Young Justice, Peter, Shuri, Konoha 13, Sand Siblings) had decided started dinner without him. Too lazy to make their own food, they all put together money to order food. Assorted meals were arranged on the long rectangular table. The young adults sat along the sides of the table, leaving room at the end of one side next to Kara and Shuri, for Naruto, if he showed up.

"So, anyone got any interesting stories to tell?" M'gann asked as she received a bowl of vegetables, all as green as she was.

"Uncle Barry, gave Bart and me a Speedforce Generator, it gives us the ability to run in universes without the Speedforce. And the faster we go the more force is generated and the faster we go" Wally said. He took a bite of his burger, "So, I want my rematch," Wally told Chouji. The chubby ninja chuckled.

"Me too, Rock Lee," Bart laughed, spitting some of his food.

"You guys actually had sparring matches?" Artemis asked.

"I won mine," Jaime shrugged.

"Only because I gave up," Shikamaru put his elbow on the table, and leaned his head on his hand.

"Sounds like something you'd do," Temari said taking a sip of her juice. She recalled their Chuunin Exam fight, where Shikamaru had given up, but somehow he'd been promoted to Chuunin before she was.

No one was allowed to have any alcoholic beverages or engage in any overly romantic activities in fear of exhausting themselves. They had to be fighting fit for the battle against Thanos tomorrow.

"What a drag," Shikamaru groaned.

"I beat Konohamaru," Peter said.

"Barely," Neji vouched for the absent adolescent.

"I… I think I did pretty well," Peter shrugged.

"Hey Dick, why are you so quiet?" Tim asked.

Dick didn't want to say anything, he just sighed knowing what was coming next. Garfield stood up and leaned over the table to shout, "Because he got the shit knocked out of him," the shouting was followed by intense laughter.

Starfire held his hand nonetheless.

"By whom?" she still asked.

The guys turned to Gaara who was still sipping on his coffee. The kunoichi just laughed because they knew what had happened. Gaara put his coffee mug down. "It was a close contest," he said.

"It was unfair, my dude. You just formed this sand ball around yourself, and you just smacked him around with more sand," Garfield roared.

"Says the man who got taken down by ink," Sai smiled.

Garfield sulked, "No fair, they were ink lions so either they bit me or I bit them."

"You can't bite ink," Sai laughed some more before slurping up some ramen.

"You can! You shouldn't, but you can," Garfield quickly redirected the attention to Tim Drake, "But Tim on the other hand got the shit kicked out of him."

Zatanna's eyes lit up, "Really? When were you going to tell me that?"

"Why does it matter?" Tim shrugged.

"Naruto disrespected you. He toyed with you for a solid minute," Sasuke said.

"Did he toy with me or did I hold him back?"

"I've seen Naruto break someone's face with a punch so… I'm pretty sure he was toying with you," Kiba said after being dead quiet for the whole night.

"Hey Kiba, where've you been ever since the whole engagement thing?" Sakura asked.

"He's been avoiding Naruto obviously."

"Sai!" the kunoichi shouted in unison. The pale man didn't react, he simply smiled.

Kiba had to admit, "I actually kinda feel bad that my woman had a past with him," he scratched the back of his neck.

"_Your _woman?" Hinata crossed her arms.

"It works both ways, I'm your man too," Kiba laughed. His laugh was hardy, like a happy sailor, as if it was from the back of the throat. She nudged him with her elbow. His face descended into sadness, "But I honestly wish it didn't have to come to this, I feel bad just being in his house, you know."

"Oh, Naruto's the nicest guy in the world, and dare I say the universe. I'm pretty sure he of all people wouldn't mind," Sakura said.

"Naruto's been going through a lot recently," Ino spoke.

Sakura nodded, "I know, the look on his face, this morning, when he found out Thanos was coming to our universe. It was like he saw a ghost."

"Tomorrow I will lay my eyes on Thanos for the first time, and he will lay his eyes on me for the last time," Sasuke stood up.

"No really guy, where do you get your confidence?" said Peter.

"Have any of us actually done any form of training to prepare for the upcoming fight? I mean, I always hear about how powerful and almighty Thanos is, but we're here eating a full-course meal," Miss Martian wondered.

"Who can stand a chance against the Justice League, the Avengers, Young Justice _and_ Konoha 13 all at the same time?" Tim asked.

"I don't know, Batman with some time to prepare," Barbara shrugged.

"Ha-ha, Batman with prep," Peter got that reference, but everyone else, except Shuri, didn't quite understand what was so funny, "What? You guys don't have memes in your universes?"

"Ooh, I wouldn't mind that," Kara thought aloud.

"Wouldn't mind what?" Shuri asked.

"A fight against Batman," Kara folded her arms.

"Batman beat Superman," Barbara raised an eyebrow.

"I wouldn't want to get into a fight with Batman," Dick laughed.

"I want to see Batman taking on Captain America," Peter scratched his chin.

"Batman beat Superman," Barbara repeated.

"Cap beat Iron Man," Shuri indicated.

"I wanna see Kakashi vs Captain America," Tenten recommended.

"Never really seen your president fight so I'm not really sure how that would play out," Garfield said.

"Kakashi knows over a thousand moves," Sakura said smugly.

"The Captain is literally superhuman," Peter argued.

"I'm waiting to see Dick take on Conner," Kaldur'ahm suggested.

"Uh… nah, I respect Conner and all, but I was trained by the strongest human in our universe," everyone expected Dick to say he couldn't beat the half-Kryptonian.

Conner smirked, "Well then, before we leave I've got to teach you some manners," he laughed.

"I'm still waiting to see Hinata vs Sakura," Ino smirked. Hinata blushed.

"Honestly, Naruto vs Kiba would be more entertaining, winner gets Hinata," said Sai. Hinata went

"Sai!" Ino kicked Sai under the table.

"Didn't he fart on you last time?" Hinata whispered.

"What about Sakura vs Ino?" Artemis pointed out.

"Oh, we've seen that before. They knocked each other out in a double KO. So they're both either equally weak or equally strong," Kiba commented.

"_Shannaro! Who let these two in here in the first place?"_ Inner Sakura yelled. Sakura just looked over to the platinum blonde, "That was before I learned how to heal, now I'm a destructive kunoichi on par with Sasuke and Naruto."

"Speaking of…" Peter turned to Sasuke, "Have you ever fought against Naruto?"

"Plenty of times," the door closed. Naruto folded his black shirt and threw it on a nearby chair, leaving him in his mesh undershirt. His whole body with the exception of his hair and his eyes were drenched in bandages. Surprisingly, Kiba reacted first but Naruto told him to sit, "Don't worry, I'm not one to hold grudges, plus… as Kaldur'ahm told me this morning, 'I don't want to die with any regrets', so let's eat."

Naruto took a seat next to Kara and Shuri, "Sasuke and I have only fought like three times. The first time Kakashi interrupted us, the second time it was a draw, and the third time cost us our dominant arms," Naruto laughed as someone passed him a jug of juice. He went for a bowl whilst eying the ramen on the corner of the table. He grabbed a handful of steaming ramen and let a spoonful slop into his bowl.

Before anyone got to ask him about the bandages, Sasuke replied, "What do you mean 'draw'? I beat you into a pulp the second time!"

"You aimed for my heart. I aimed for your headband. I hit you first. If that was your heart, you wouldn't be here with us right now," Naruto sounded cocky.

"Hey, Naruto, what's with the bandages?" Jaime asked.

"Four Tails Chakra Cloak?" Sakura asked. Naruto nodded. He turned to the Hispanic hero and told him not to worry about it. He was sure he'd be fighting fit by the next day, "I thought you had full control of the Nine Tails."

"He's been quiet recently. Don't know what's up with the guy?" Naruto shrugged.

"Speaking of this Nine Tails!" Tim spoke up, "You like, summoned him when we fought. Does he do that often?"

"Oh no, no, no, I didn't summon Kurama. He forced so much chakra into my system that I had to release it, and he morphed it into a section of his body, namely his arm. In order for me to summon him, we'd need to link up mentally, which we've been struggling to do lately."

"How powerful would he be at full strength?" Conner asked.

"I've only had him at full strength for about a year so even I'm not sure how powerful he is, but he told me that no man could challenge him in his prime… then again Kurama isn't afraid to tell a fib or two every now and then."

"… Naruto vs Peter?" was the last matchup suggested by Neji.

The two youngsters turned to each other, "Enough fake matches for one night," Naruto quickly said, "The only matchup we should worry about is Thanos vs the World," the blonde chuckled.

* * *

_Meanwhile – In Space_

A massive ship crossed over the dimensional border, leaving the Marvel Universe and entering the Anime Universe. It hovered above the earth-like Naruto World. Thanos watched on from a large horizontal curved window. He sat on a long bench as Proxima massaged his back with some ointment.

"We don't have to do this," she assured him.

"No, my child. This is our only option."

"What if we die?" Proxima asked a very important question.

Thanos looked over to the golden glove sitting at his side. He lifted his large purple left hand before clenching it in front of his daughter, "If you die, the Soul Stone has the amazing ability to cheat death, so no matter how often you get taken down, you will rise my child," he said stroking her hair. She smirked.

* * *

_An Hour Later – Namikaze Compound_

Somehow, everyone had managed to find some sleeping bags and squeeze into the Namikaze Main Manor. The lights went off in every room as people said their 'goodnights'. Naruto retired to his bed which he had to share with Shuri, Kara and Barbara again. They'd made space for him to lie in the middle between the talented African and the superhuman Kryptonian.

"Goodnight!"

"Sleep tight."

"We're gonna kick some Thanos ass dattebayo!"

"…" Barbara was already unconscious.


	10. End of Multiverse Part One

_The Next Morning – The Valley of the End_

A fish leapt out of the waterfall and made its way downstream. It passed a sulking Naruto who was sitting on a rock contemplating life, and what he'd gotten himself into. He looked up as a rainbow formed across the waterfall. The water furiously wore away at the rocks under it. Naruto inhaled. At least he had the clash of colours around him to keep him happy. A conglomeration of green, blue and brown as the earth, and the river running through it, met the sky above it. Naruto sighed.

Thunderstorms.

Naruto turned around and sat up on his little rock.

A portal formed a few hundred metres down the river. Just a black and blue combination of lightning and clouds. What was taking him so long? The thunder rumbled. It echoed around the open valley, bouncing off the walls and making the moment more ominous. The portal grew larger. Naruto threw a pebble into the water and watched it bounce a couple of times.

Fully clad in sharp golden armour and a beautiful golden helmet, Thanos – the only being to ever possess six of the seven Infinity Stones – casually sauntered out onto this world for the first time. Naruto had never seen Thanos before, but when he walked out all he could say was, "Yep, that's the big bad."

Four more people walked out of the portal behind the tall, broad-shouldered Titan. They looked like henchmen. Naruto acknowledged the Mad Titan's presence. Thanos was equally respectful.

"Such a beautiful place to watch the sunrise," Thanos commented.

"Yep. You'd be surprised how many shinobi have died watching the sunrise from here… or rather set," Naruto looked up, "These two statues have seen their fair share of battles."

"If only they knew they were fighting in the presence of the most precious stone in the multiverse," Thanos said, "I'll just have one of my children come take it from you… no one needs to get hurt."

"Children? Oh you must be talking about your lackeys. Sure, they can come and try to get it… if they have the stones," Naruto quipped.

Thanos chuckled sarcastically, "Make it quick, Maw,"

"Yeah! Make it quick, Maw," Naruto mocked as the skinny alien floated closer.

"Mockery is the best form of flattery," Maw said.

Thanos blinked.

Maw was sliced in half. Thanos took a step back. He didn't see what happened… was Naruto that quick? "W… what… what just happened?"

Naruto stood up and dusted himself off, "Oh yeah, I should probably tell you that I didn't come alone. Even I'm not that stupid dattebayo," Naruto looked up, "Meet my best friend."

Something big and purple came down from above and sliced through both Black Dwarf and Proxima Midnight. Suddenly Corvus was engulfed by an intense black flame. Thanos jumped back quickly. He noticed the figure inside the massive purple samurai. A youngster in a poncho with long black hair and two different coloured eyes.

"Sasuke! Crush him!" Naruto yelled.

Susanoo leapt into the air. He came down with a punch that nailed Thanos into the ground. The dust cleared quickly, revealing Susanoo's fist. Sasuke's flexed his wings.

"Drop dead," he commented.

**Power Stone**

"Make me!" Thanos yelled. A surge of purple energy sent Sasuke into the air. His giant humanoid dematerialised around him. Thanos looked up. They made eye contact. If Sasuke was any closer he would've used a Genjutsu, but he needed to use his chakra to land next to Naruto.

"Aren't you gonna activate your Six Paths ability?" Sasuke asked.

"I've tried… I can't even get my normal Kyuubi Chakra Mode on."

"Well the plan was for us to keep him distracted with our Six Paths abilities."

Naruto scanned the area. There were no signs of reinforcements, "It's okay, I've got a backup plan in the works already… in the meantime, do you wanna combine my Rasengan with your Chidori?"

"Nope," Sasuke dashed forward.

**Space Stone**

Sasuke's black flames appeared around Thanos but never got the chance to touch him. Thanos materialised behind the emo. Naruto leapt through the air.

**Mind Stone**

Thanos' right fist met Naruto's left. Sasuke looked over his shoulder. He grabbed his blade with his sole right hand and swung. Thanos grabbed his lightning-soaked fist with an open golden glove. The Mad Titan opened his right hand to grab Naruto's left hand. They all held for a second. Naruto closed his eyes.

"You can't be telling me you two were the only ones who had the guts to face me. I'll admit, you did away with my children very quickly, but I am a million times stronger than my children. I won't kill you, but when I obtain the last Stone that lies beyond that waterfall, who dies and who lives will be out of my control. All wars will end. The multiverse will be… perfect. You know it'd be a lot easier if you both just let me grab the Stone, and I could be on my way."

Naruto's eyelids were a dyed a faded orange.

"_Sage Mode,"_ Sasuke smirked. Naruto's eyes opened as Sasuke uncovered his left eye. They both flew back at incredible speeds. Thanos clenched his fist causing the six Stones to glow.

"Don't die as fools!"

Naruto had three clones standing around him as he formed the Rasenshuriken. Sasuke vanished. A red streak leaking from his right eye was the only proof of his existence. Thanos looked left then right.

**Power Stone**

Thanos stepped to punch Sasuke.

**Rinnegan**

Sasuke turned into the Rasenshuriken. Naruto dropped Sasuke and advanced.

**Reality Stone**

The Rasenshuriken turned to bubbles. From the bubbles came Naruto.

**Time Stone**

Thanos sidestepped a slow-moving Naruto. Thanos felt a punch from out of nowhere. Naruto landed. The attack wasn't over. Sasuke moved. They were both blurs of speed moving around the valley.

**Mind Stone**

**Sharingan**

Thanos read Sasuke's mind, but Sasuke was reading Thanos' movements. Once again their fists met. Naruto dropkicked him. Thanos refused to fall. Sasuke slashed at his armour. No use. Sasuke disappeared. Thanos didn't want to waste energy chasing them, so he turned to grab the Dimension Stone.

Sasuke pulled out a scroll that read 'Demon Wind Shuriken'. The large weapon appeared in a cloud of smoke. The Uchiha flung it. Thanos looked back and dodged it. Sasuke tugged on a string, herding Thanos towards Naruto who was ready with another Rasenshuriken.

**Space and Reality Stones**

The ground around the Titan shifted so Naruto was staring at the Demon Wind Shuriken. The blonde threw a curveball using his chakra shuriken. It spun around the metal weapon and blocked Thanos off. Naruto twisted over the weapon as Sasuke pulled it back in. They blitzed.

**Power and Reality Stones**

Thanos punched the ground generating a wave of earth, slowing down the duo. Naruto rolled into the river. Sasuke slammed into the mountainside. Thanos turned. Supergirl flew in and levelled him. He flipped over and landed on his feet. Just in time to get clotheslines by Kid Flash and Impulse. They skidded to a stop.

**Mind Stone**

Thanos didn't get the time to do anything. Superboy wrapped his meaty arms around the Titan and wrestled him to the ground. Miss Martian picked him up and threw him the air. He got hit by knockout gas.

"Perfect," Artemis smirked after firing an arrow with 100% accuracy. The gas didn't knock the godlike Titan out but it did slow him down. Aqualad blasted him down with a torrent of water. Zatanna touched the water.

"Etucortcele siht retaw!" she chanted as electricity added to Thanos' watery suffering. He coughed out some liquid and lifted his Gauntlet to his face. Nightwing flung a device that built around his glove to keep it open. Batgirl flung a batarang at his chest. The explosion rocked him.

"Reinforcements are here, kids!" Iron Man descended on the battlefield firing shots of energy. Thanos plucked him out of mid-air to slam him.

"I hope you weren't reinforcements," Thanos said looking around at the teenagers.

"Of course not," he groaned, "We have a Hulk."

The green menace backhanded Thanos into the earth. He grabbed the Titan's leg, lifted him into the air and slammed him. The Titan ripped Nightwing's device off.

**Power Stone**

Hulk was blasted back. Thanos got up and continued to use the purple Stone's power to teach the Hulk who's boss. Iron Man finally got up.

"We also have a Thing."

"IT'S CLOBBERING TIME!"

The muscular rocky brawler lifted Thanos onto his shoulders and fell back to crush a piece of his armour against the earth. The Thing jumped away in time for a ginormous white foot to devastate Thanos.

"Waybig!" the behemoth rumbled before disappearing in a blur of green light.

The X-Men, the Justice League, the Avengers, Peter Quill, Drax, the Fantastic Four, Steve Roger's Nomads, Ichigo, Rukia, Renji, Saitama, Kaneki, the Z-Fighters, Gwen, Kevin, Ash, Misty, Brock, the rest of Konoha 13, the Sand Siblings, the rest of Young Justice, the older Konoha shinobi and Tsunade and the three matured Kage, all came down from the mountainside as reinforcements.

Thanos closed his fist. All six Stones glowed at the same time, but before he could do anything a tiny figure came down and kicked him into the cliffside. Gotenks went Super-Saiyan 3 instantly with a plan to make quick work of Thanos. The only problem with his plan though, was that he underestimated Thanos, he underestimated the Infinity Gauntlet, and he underestimated the power of the six Infinity Stones. When the Mad Titan hit the cliff, Gotenks charged in and tried to kick him through the cliff.

**Power, Space, Reality, Soul, Time, Mind Stone**

With that much power loaded into his Gauntlet, Thanos simply needed to touch Gotenks, but he was so angry that he nailed the product of fusion with a punch so powerful that Gotenks evaporated. He was simply erased from this universe. The Gauntlet melted a little as soon as he made contact.

**Power Stone**

**Space Stone**

**Reality Stone**

**Soul Stone**

**Time Stone**

**Mind Stone**

Thanos created six clones of himself whilst reviving his children who were taken down by Sasuke. Each clone had armour of a different colour and only Gem. The original had golden armour with all six Stones, but the first had purple armour and only the Power Stone, the second in blue had the Space Stone, the one in red had the Reality Stone, the one in orange had the Soul Stone, the one in green had the Time Stone and the one in a bright yellow had the Mind Stone. As the combatants approached the Thanos clones split up, leaving different factions to chase after them.

Tsunade, Ben, Gwen and Kevin, joined the current Five Kage to fight the Reality Stone Thanos.

Konoha 13 along with Kankuro and Temari chased after the Soul Stone Thanos.

Steve Roger's Nomads pursued the Time Stone Thanos with the Fantastic Four, Ash, Misty and Brock.

The Mind Stone Thanos was followed up and around the cliff by the X-Men.

Ichigo followed the Space Stone Thanos deep into the forest with Rukia, Renji and Kaneki yelling for him to stop.

The Z-Fighters followed the Power Stone Thanos into the forest too, but not as deeply in as Ichigo, Rukia, Renji and Kaneki. They were followed in by Saitama.

Young Justice jumped on the chance to face off against the Black Order.

This left the Justice League and the Avengers to take on the original, all-powerful Thanos.

* * *

_Meanwhile – Namikaze Main Manor_

"Come on, come on, come on," Peter was piped to try out his new Iron Spider suit, which was given to him by Tony, but was being enhanced with vibranium by Shuri. Shuri had volunteered (was chosen because she was the smartest) to stay in the Namikaze Main Manor and assist the fighters by being their eyes in the sky. The only problem was she'd forgotten to actually give them the Eye In The Sky drone that would watch over every battle. Peter and Hanabi were told to stand on guard in case anyone tried to attack Konoha whilst everyone was focused on Thanos. Once Shuri was convinced no one was going to attack, she decided to send the duo into battle with the drone.

"I'm trying to work as fast as I can," knowing that Tony would try to limit the Iron Spider suit's abilities, Shuri unlocked the suit's full potential and sealed it, "Done."

Hanabi wrapped her arms around Peter's chest. The slightly older teen struggled to breathe for a second. She was shorter than him so as she grabbed on, he got a whiff of her heavenly scent. Hanabi ignored the fact that he'd just sniffed her hair. Four claws protruded from Peter's spine.

"Oh shit! I feel like a Power Ranger," Shuri handed him the device, "Undo audno idnea," Peter mumbled.

"What?" Hanabi questioned.

"I'm impersonating a New York Subway Operator," Peter chuckled. Hanabi raised an eyebrow. She didn't know what New York was, didn't know what a subway was and didn't know what a subway operator sounded like. He cleared his throat. The nanotech helmet formed around his face.

"Where would you like to go P-Dogg?" the soft feminine voice asked.

"Take me north as quickly as possible!" he sprung through the air, cracking the ground under him.

As he soared through the trees, three mysterious figures followed behind him.

* * *

**PERFECTLY BALANCED**

**CHAPTER TEN**

**End of Multiverse Part One**

* * *

_Soul Stone Thanos vs Konoha 13, Temari and Kankuro_

The orange-armoured Thanos sprinted into the forest, but eventually exited out into a little sandy zone surrounded by high walls of layered sedimentary rock. The purple being slowed to a halt before looking around for an escape route. There was none.

"Chidori!" the former rogue nin twirled in mid-air with electric sword in hand. The blade hit Thanos' Gauntlet. His clenched fist forced the sandy orange Stone to start glowing. Sasuke's feet hit the ground. His sandals sunk into the sand. His grip was firm on the sword's hilt. Thanos grinned. Sasuke's Rinnegan deactivated, his Sharingan soon followed. The swordsman jumped back and knelt in front of the Titan.

"What's wrong?" Thanos smirked as he approached. Sasuke checked himself first, when he realised there was nothing wrong, he picked up his sword and attacked. Thanos held his fist closed. The raven-haired Uchiha didn't even have enough strength in him to keep his steel in his hands. He used the last of his chakra to backflip away. Shinobi surrounded him.

"Sasuke-kun?" Sakura placed her hand on Sasuke's shoulder. She expected him to swat it away and charge again, but he furiously reached for her hand and squeezed on it. His squeeze was almost like that of a toddler, "Your chakra. You must've used too much in the fight against him earlier," the pink-haired mednin hovered her healing hands over the emo's back.

"Shadow Possession Jutsu!" Shikamaru knelt beside Sasuke. The genius's shadow shot out. Thanos watched it approach.

"What kind of technique is this?"

It didn't matter. The black entity stopped right in front of the brute. Shikamaru tried to add so more chakra to the attack… nothing. "Shadow Possession Unsuccessful," the pineapple-head switched techniques, "Shadow Stitching Jutsu!" the black tendrils left the ground and surrounded Thanos.

He grabbed the tentacle and pulled Shikamaru closer. Thinking on his feet, he deactivated the technique and hopped away in time.

"Ha-ha! I gotcha!" Naruto yelled from behind. Thanos looked over his shoulder. The clone turned to clouds.

"Not this time," Thanos' focused returned to the group.

"He's got some kind of jutsu protecting him. I can't lock onto his soul or chakra or anything," Ino complained. Naruto sped past her with Sage Mode activated.

"No need to lock onto him or anything! I'll end this," he sprung into the air. Thanos caught his right foot. Naruto kicked off with his left foot as a yellow and red blur whizzed between the two. It bought Naruto some time to retreat. He slid onto the sand. His Sage Mode had been deactivated. _"I swear I had three more minutes,"_ Naruto searched for some answers in the terrain, "Perhaps we should-,"

"FANG OVER FANG!" Kiba spiralled towards the Mad Titan. He calmly snatched them out of mid-air as their spinning slowed down and Akamaru turned back into a dog.

"Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!" Sasuke was back.

Thanos grabbed Kiba by the neck and used him as a shield against the oncoming ball of flames. At the last second, Akamaru leapt in front of his best friend to take the searing heat. Kiba slowly began to lose consciousness. He didn't have enough energy in him to scream.

The following sequence of events decimated the squad of highly-trained professionals. Hinata charged in with Neji not too far behind her. Thanos pimp-slapped Hinata into a sandy dune. Neji wanted to go for 64 palms but he ran out of chakra before he could land the first strike. Thanos used Kiba to bash Neji out cold. He dropped the bleeding ninja and advanced.

Naruto began to remember, "No," he cried. The nightmares.

"Giant Human Boulder!" Chouji was sure he could land a killer blow, but by the time he got to Thanos he was just a normal-sized rolling teenager. Thanos picked him and flung him at Shikamaru who was busy thinking of a strategy.

Temari, without thinking, rushed to her fiancé's side. Thanos grabbed her by the back of her shirt and slammed her into her husband. Crow and Black Ant came from either side to try and slow the Mad Titan down. The chakra connecting the two puppets to their master suddenly vanished, reducing the deadly wooden beings to mere play things. Thanos grabbed one of the chakra tendrils before it could fully dissipate and used it to pulled Kankuro in. One stern kick to the neck made sure Kankuro wasn't getting up anytime soon.

In Naruto's eyes the world began to evaporate and turn to dust. The future was growing nearer. The blonde hyperventilated. Sai flew over him on an inked bird. Rock Lee was riding shotgun.

Thanos laughed. He steadied himself. Rock Lee activated the Sixth Gate and launched himself into the air. The ink bird exploded around Thanos. Sai tried to reach from his brush but Thanos grabbed his neck and used him as a shield to block Lee's kick which came from above.

Sai was on the verge of death. Lee was confused. His Gates disappeared around him. He turned around.

"I'll die with the flames of-," Thanos punched him in the throat with his right fist. Silence. A split second flinch meant Thanos missed Lee's windpipe and hit the side of his neck. A flinch that saved his life.

Naruto started pleading with the last person he ever thought he'd plead to, "Kurama… please give me chakra… please, please… I… I can't feel my body… I need some more chakra…" the blonde shook as tears left his deteriorating body.

"You should never forget about me!" Shino stood between Thanos and Team Seven. Bugs appeared from out of Thanos' armour, "These parasitic beetles will slowly start to drain you of all your energy, soon you'll be nothing but a-."

They died.

Every little bug stopped and dropped to the sand. Dead.

Thanos loomed over Shino, "Do you feel it? The feeling of dread? Despair? Those are my raw emotions, and you're in the way of my venting!" a right-handed punch to the jaw knocked Shino's goggles off.

Naruto looked up to the sky. The world was blackening. He turned to his teammates. They both rushed forward at the same time. Sasuke prepared a Chidori. Sakura had a chakra-fuelled punch. Both techniques died down in front of the Titan. He chuckled before pushing them over.

A gust of wind blew Thanos back. Inflicting the first bit of damage to his armour. Temari had used the last of her chakra to delay the Mad Titan. She collapsed. Thanos brushed the sand off his armour as he strolled out. There was a violent explosion in the background. Thanos didn't really care. Naruto didn't have the privilege of caring.

Suddenly a bit of chakra surged through Naruto as Thanos clenched his fist again. Kurama was still silent. The blonde looked around, he didn't care where it came from. Naruto got up and roared, "My name is Naruto Uzumaki! Son of Kushina Uzumaki, the Red-Hot Habanero, and Minato Namikaze, the Yellow Flash of the Leaf! I have slayed gods! I defeated the God of Judgement! I sealed the Rabbit Goddess! I am the next Hokage of the Leaf! DATTEBAYO!" he created another Rasenshuriken. The chakra from this one lifted sand up and swirled around the shinobi.

"You have fought well… Naruto Uzumaki. Strength has gotten you thus far," Thanos explained as he stepped over Neji Hyuuga, Shino Aburame, Shikamaru Nara, Hinata Hyuuga and then, Sasuke Uchiha, "But it's time to stop fighting."

"I promised my friends I'd kill you myself! And I never go back on my word! I promised Sakura! And the more promises I make to her… the more she'll love me! The more they'll all love me! That's the last part of my Nindo, my Ninja Way! I never go back on my word, and the more words I hold true to… the more people will love me! Wind Style: Rasenshuriken!" he tossed it. He flung the last of his chakra at the Titan. Thanos didn't flinch. The technique suddenly grew bigger as it approached.

"NGH!" it turned to air around the Titan. He burst out laughing, "Foolish… you don't have what it takes to kill this god," Thanos stood over Naruto. The blonde collapsed.

Naruto cried. His tears ran dry as they met the harsh sandy landscape, "Someone… someone please… please help me… Kurama… Kara… Hinata… Shuri… I don't want to die… Mom… Dad…"

"No one can save you now Naruto Uzumaki," Thanos grabbed a handful of blonde locks and just lifted Naruto off his knees. He was so weak his body didn't bother feeling the pain of being suspended by the hair, "Your friends are dying. Your world is dying. You are dying… And only this Stone can save them," Thanos whispered as the orange Stone glowed, "But you can't, because you're weak, and now the multiverse will die, and it'll be on your hands… Naruto Uzu-."

"INCOMING!"

* * *

_Sp_ _ace Stone Thanos vs Ichigo, Renji, Rukia, and Kaneki_

Thanos did a bit more running until he reached a clearing. The huge mass of purple muscle spun on a six pence and parried Ichigo's bandaged blade with his Infinity Gauntlet. The swordsman hit the grass and planted the sword, blade-first, into the earth, "We've got you cornered Thanos. You might as well give up, spare us the energy."

"We?" Thanos asked.

Ichigo looked around, "Eh? They'll catch up at some point, plus, I can hold my own against you."

"Your hubris has cost you," Thanos stared at the ground. A portal opened up under Ichigo's sword. The blade sunk into the earth causing the substitute Soul Reaper to hit the ground. The Zanpaktou landed at Thanos' feet. He glared at the teen.

"Pffft, I don't need my sword," Ichigo growled. He charged in haphazardly. Thanos grabbed his forearm and slammed him into a tree. Ichigo dodged just in time to avoid being broken in half by Thanos' kick. The Titan's foot got trapped within the large oak's trunk.

The Soul Reaper jumped for his weapon of choice. The trees bent as space distorted around them. They fell in front of the fiery samurai. Nonetheless, he cut straight through them and reached out. The sword fell through another portal. Ichigo turned and went to attack the trapped Thanos. He compressed the tree around his leg to form a second layer of armour which he used to knock the wind out of Ichigo.

"Bakudou 1: Restrain!" Renji yelled. Thanos was easily able to break the simple Kidou but it bought the redhead a split second of time, that allowed him to snatch Ichigo and disappear into the trees.

"I didn't know you could use Kidou," Ichigo laughed.

"Well I'm full of surpr – HEY! What does that mean?"

"Duck!"

Thanos had turned the wooden layer of armour into an ever growing ball of destruction, dust and bark. Renji jumped over it whilst Ichigo ducked under it.

"O Lord! Mask of blood and flesh, all creation, flutter wings, you who bears the name of Man, Inferno and Pandemonium, the sea barrier surges, March on to the south! Hadou 31: Red Flame Cannon!" Rukia escaped the shrubbery next. She fired a shot of red energy that knocked Thanos back just a bit, but its main intent was to give Kaneki enough time to attack. He spun in mid-air and nailed Thanos in the cheek. An attack that would've been more effective were it not for the Titan's nigh-invincible armour.

"Do you always have to say a full essay before you launch a technique?" Kaneki laughed. He looked up at Thanos with his bright red eye. The Mad Titan scanned the area for anymore assailants.

"Hadou 31: Red Flame Cannon!" Rukia just fired.

Thanos was one step ahead this time. Grass, trees and earth gathered around the ball of energy. The Titan grabbed it with both hands before flinging it at Renji. The redhead dodged it by rolling to the side. As he evaded a red and yellow blur whizzed past him. He didn't know what it was, and didn't really care. His main priority at the moment was Thanos.

Ichigo went back for another attack, but the ball of earth bounced off a tree and hit him in the back of the head. Thanos caught the orb before rolling it in Kaneki's direction. The ghoul sprung into the air to dodge it.

Thanos disappeared into a portal. He appeared behind Rukia, grabbed her by the hair and tossed her into the air. She collided mid-air with Kaneki. The ghoul passed out. The Soul Reaper was barely conscious when she hit the ground.

The Mad Titan reached out. The sphere suddenly pulled in the space around it, gathering more mass, more trees and more earth. Ichigo was drawn in but Thanos yanked on his arm mid-flight and slammed him into a tree. Rukia and Renji were both attracted to the ball. Once they were stuck to the orb, Thanos ceased the gravitational pull and trapped both of them in a transparent box of space.

Thanos mercilessly beat the substitute Soul Reaper until he was bloodied, bruised and unconscious. Kaneki, who had hardly regained consciousness, tried to attack Thanos with one of his tentacles, but a well-timed and well-placed portal meant he stabbed Ichigo instead.

"No! Ichigo!" Rukia tried to break the cage with some more Kidou, "O Lord, mask of flesh and bone, all creation, flutter of wings, ye who bears the name of Man, Truth and Temperance, upon this sinless wall of dreams unleash but slightly the wrath of your claws! Hadou 33: Blue Fire, Crash Down!"

The wave of blue flames rebounded off the transparent wall and nailed Renji in the chest. The Soul Reaper collapsed. There was an explosion in the background. In Rukia's eyes the world was catching fire before her. She tried to think of a way to help everyone, but nothing she'd tried worked on the Mad Titan.

"AH!" someone flew overhead.

The young Kuchiki slid an earpiece into her ear and tried to ask for help, but there was just static.

* * *

_Mind Stone Thanos vs The X-Men_

The Thanos clone in bright yellow chose to fight on one of the two cliffs surrounding the Valley of the End. As soon as he stopped he was dropped by a speedster in casual clothing. Quicksilver removed his goggles and smirked, "This is gonna be way too easy," he blitzed away as Thanos got to his feet.

The Mad Titan got struck by a bolt of lightning which would've killed him had it penetrated his armour. Storm came down from above, riding a tornado with another lightning bolt in hand. She chucked it. Thanos blocked with a Mind Stone beam. He sidestepped the next bolt.

"ARGH!" Wolverine leapt over the cliffside and stabbed the Mad Titan's back with six adamantium claws. All six penetrated his armour and drilled through his skin. Logan kicked off and landed behind the Titan who swung only to get caught by Beast. The blue creature manoeuvred around the purple alien until he got a good grip around his waist. They both fell back. A powerful suplex kept Thanos on the ground for a while.

"I need to go on the offensive," he punched the dirt and rose to his feet, only to come in contact with himself, "An illusion?" he asked.

"Nope, all real!" Mystique punched Thanos in the face before returning to her natural blue form and jumping over the Titan. Each mutant attacked with such speed and accuracy that Thanos didn't have time to even think about his next attack.

Nightcrawler appeared behind the Titan who clenched his fist in time. He spun around and slammed him into the earth. Cyclops fired a high-intensity beam at Thanos but he used the blue mutant to block the attack. Thanos burst forward. Cyclops stopped firing. A heavily-wounded Nightcrawler was flung at Cyclops who dodged in time. Thanos grabbed Cyclops' neck and activated the Mind Stone.

"No, no, no!" Mystique saw what was coming next, but she couldn't do anything about it. She was blasted with a beam of energy so powerful it knocked her out of the fight. Beast was out next. Wolverine tried to block with her six metallic claws but the mind-controlled Cyclops raised the heat so high that Wolverine skin melted off his muscle. The mutant's healing ability kept him alive, but he was out of the battle for the next hour or so.

There was a loud explosion in the background. Quicksilver came charging in for another attack. Thanos read his mind using the Mind Stone. Storm attacked from the Mad Titan's right, facing the valley. It was a recipe for disaster. Thanos let go of Cyclops. Quicksilver, distracted, ran into him. Pushed him off. Ran into Storm. Ran off the cliff. Fell to the ground with his silver-haired compatriot.

Thanos knew he hadn't won yet, "… Ahh… I can't believe my luck… a psychic," he underestimated the woman standing behind him.

"Correct, the greatest psychic you'll ever meet," Jean Grey explained.

"No…" Thanos looked to his right, "I-I think that title would go to me," a young man, who looked like he'd lost his wits, said.

"And who are you?"

"David… but… but I go by Legion now, apparently it's cooler," the man introduced himself.

"Two psychics… how fun."

All three of them locked horns in a mental battle as a figure soared past them.

* * *

_Power Stone Thanos vs The Z-Fighters and Saitama_

Reluctant to fight, Saitama sat on a nearby rock and tried to get his earpiece to work. The Power Stone Thanos had stopped within the forest but only a couple hundred metres away from the cliff that separated the forest from the valley. The first person to get their hands on the Power Stone Thanos was Goku.

"You killed my son!" he grabbed the Titan's neck and went for a punch. Thanos clenched his fist. Goku almost broke his hand. The Saiyan jumped back. Vegeta came in and tried to kick. Thanos' fist remained tight. To Vegeta it felt like he was kicking some kind of immovable metal. He used a surge of purple energy to blow the Saiyan away.

"You've got to slow it down. The more power you exert the more likely your injuries are to open up again," Vegeta warned. Goku didn't care.

Goku went Super-Saiyan and tried to attack from the right. Thanos grabbed his punch and effortlessly tossed him into the cliff. An entire section of the cliff collapsed on top of the Saiyan. Goku was still experiencing some pain from Naruto's toxic shots. His power was being restricted… but he had to fight.

A red and yellow blur cut through the battlefield. It distracted Thanos for a second, but Vegeta used that second to get in close. The Super-Saiyan was a lot faster than the Titan but Thanos was just a little bit more powerful than him. Whenever Vegeta mustered more power, Thanos seemed to increase at an equal interval.

Vegeta kicked Thanos back. Goku exploded out of the rocky grave and went straight for Thanos who deflected him into a tree.

"Are we going to do anything?" Krillin asked.

"Nah, at this rate we'd just get in their way. Vegeta is powerful, my dad more so, when they're together… nothing can defeat them," Gohan explained.

"Ka-me!" Goku's attack got interrupted by a blast of purple energy.

"Gallick!" Vegeta was blown away.

Goku went Super-Saiyan Two. Vegeta did the same. They both kicked up dirt as they dashed towards the Mad Titan. Thanos closed his fist.

"AHH!"

"AHH!"

"GRR!"

The impact was so powerful that it created a massive explosion that could be heard around the whole valley. The violence of the explosion destroyed boulders, uprooted trees and released so much energy that clouds gathered over the Valley of the End. The rest of the Z-Fighters dashed back to avoid the explosion's searing heat. Saitama sat on his rock as the smoke rushed over him. Vegeta and Goku were both blown back. With Goku being blown the farther back of the two. They didn't know how they'd lost that battle.

"There's no way I can just sit here and watch!" Krillin charged in.

He got his clock cleaned with a single punch.

Gohan flew in to try and save his best friend.

He too got knocked out instantly.

"Special Beam C-," Thanos blasted Piccolo. Piccolo's ultimate beam missed the Titan and destroyed a section of the cliff. Rocks rained on everyone. Goku grabbed Thanos from behind and looked around for someone who could land a final blow. Piccolo was out, Gohan was too, Buu was busy protecting Hercule, Yamcha was never in the fight in the first place and Tien didn't want to use his most powerful technique in fear of hurting the powerful Saiyan.

"Hey!" Goku yelled. Saitama looked up, "You're not gonna help?" Goku wrestled with the taller Titan.

"You seem to have things covered."

Thanos grabbed Goku's hand, almost breaking it, and flipped him onto the ground.

Someone flew overhead.

* * *

_Time Stone Thanos vs The Fantastic Four, Captain America's Nomads, Ash, Misty and Brock._

The green Thanos wanted to draw his opponents deeper into the woods but he was stopped by a wall of fire. He turned around and looked up. The Human Torch soared over him before landing in front of the Titan.

"End of the road, dude," Johnny laughed. Susan appeared out of thin air. The Thing landed on Thanos' left-hand side. With Reed behind him, they formed a four-man barrier. If Thanos attacked first he'd be attacked by three others. Who was a greater threat to him?

…

Thanos punched the Thing. He flipped him over and tried to break his arm as the three other heroes jumped in. Two blurs zipped past him, distracting Thanos for a long enough time that Mr Fantastic was able to wrap himself around the Titan's fingers. Thanos couldn't clench.

The Human Torch blasted the being's chest with some fireballs. Black Widow, who'd just arrived on the battlefield, vaulted over the Titan, leaving an explosive on his back. Thanos tried to reach for it, but it blew right through his armour. Sam released Redwing who latched onto the hole in Thanos' armour. It proceeded to drill a large hole in the Titan's back.

A large explosion nearby uprooted trees, destroyed rocks and created a shockwave that coated the battlefield in dust. A stunned Reed Richards made the mistake of loosening himself to shield his eyes from the dust. Green symbols appeared around Thanos' Gauntlet. The Mad Titan pulled back time to the point where he was holding the Thing's arm.

Two blurs sped past. Thanos wasn't effected.

Reed began to wind around the Gauntlet but Thanos punched him with his right hand, dropping him. He dodged Johnny's fireballs, swatted Natasha out of the air and caught Redwing with his left hand.

The explosion's shockwave enveloped the field, so Thanos didn't expect to be set on fire by Charizard's Flamethrower. The Mad Titan let go of Redwing and focused on Charizard. He was quickly able to turn back the clock on the Pokémon until Charizard de-evolved until Charmander.

Ash looked back at Misty and Brock to ask what next. They both shrugged.

"Ash! Look out!" Brock yelled.

Ash didn't have time to register what happened as Thanos shoulder-charged him. Susan lodged her earpiece into her left ear. She just heard static, "When I'm done here, you two are next," Thanos warned Misty and Brock.

Steve Rogers grabbed both of Thanos' thighs and lifted him up before dropping him onto the cold hard earth. His right forearm shield extended allowing him to bash at the armour, denting it. Thanos threw him and tried to stand. A bullet penetrated his armour and sunk into his skin. Thanos dabbed his bleeding wound before looking around. The White Wolf was being submerged by shrubbery.

Susan created a forcefield around Thanos to halt him. The Mad Titan shut his fist as a screaming figure flew overhead.

* * *

_Reality Stone Thanos vs the Five Kage, Tsunade, the adult Shinobi, Ben, Gwen, and Kevin._

The Titan in red chose to climb up the waterfall using a levitating metal plate. As soon as he reached the summit he was greeted by an electrically-charged fist to the face. He skidded on the water a couple of times before coming to a stop and staring into Ay's eyes.

"Lightning Blade," Kakashi dragged the bright sword through the rock. Thanos used his Reality Stone to create a wall of earth, which Kakashi broke through easily. Unfortunately, he missed the Titan with his assassination-level technique. Mei Terumi blasted Thanos off his feet, temporarily, with a stream of water. Hana Inuzuka released the three Haimaru brothers.

One missed the large Titan. The second one bit his leg as it ran past. The third one chomped Thanos' shoulder but was caught before he could run away. Thanos grabbed the hound's upper jaw, then his lower jaw, before snapping him in half.

"YOU MONSTER!" the red mist descended on Hana. Her two canines returned to her. Tsume grabbed Hana's arm in time.

"We'll avenge him later, don't throw yourself into a fight you can't win," she promised.

Chouza reached the battlefield and stomped on the armoured Titan. An explosion rocked the valley. It also lifted Chouza's foot for a second, which was more than enough time for Thanos to launch the Akimichi into the air.

"Eight Trigrams… Style Three Hundred and Sixty-One," Hiashi saw an opening, but Thanos had created it on purpose. As the Hyuuga elder was about to draw first blood, the Mad Titan compressed Chouza into a ball and used him as a shield against Hiashi's lethal attack.

The technique cut off all of his chakra points leaving him lifeless on the floor. Hiashi froze. Thanos strengthened his right fist with some of the surrounding terrain. Kakashi finally hit an upright boulder, which allowed him to jump off and attack Thanos from behind. Yamato jumped forth whilst weaving a few hand signs. Hana pushed past Tsume. The Inuzuka matriarch tried to grab her only daughter but she was too fast. The Haimaru Brothers were right behind her. Thanos dropped his rocky fist to the ground.

Gaara sighed. He decided to step in. Six sand tentacles shot out. One grabbed Hiashi, the other Yamato, another grabbed Kakashi, then Hana, the two Haimaru Brothers. They were both yanked away from Thanos who created six rocky spikes that would've penetrated all of them.

A sand hand reached out and pulled Tsume Inuzuka away before she was swallowed by a tiny black hole Thanos tried to create over her. Mei spat out balls of lava. Thanos turned them to water before they could reach him. He reversed the water, turning them to icicles.

"Kuraru's Will!" Mei was saved by her proximity to Gaara. A woman's hands shielded them both from the onslaught of icicles, "And now you feel pain," Gaara told him. Sand shot out of the ground. It surrounded the giant.

Thanos created a layer of water between his armour and the sand. Gaara shrugged, "Mud is just heavier sand!" he lifted Thanos into the air, "This technique is called the Sand Coffin."

All Gaara needed to do to end the fight was what Thanos had been doing the whole fight. Clench. His. Fist.

The Reality Stone Thanos got there first though. A rock hand exploded from the earth around Gaara. It picked him up and flung him away.

"AHHH!" he flew over a couple of other battles.

* * *

_The Black Order vs Young Justice._

Sasuke's use of the element of surprise allowed him to take the Black Order out in seconds. Young Justice didn't have that luxury, so they had to grind out a win using whatever they could muster. As weak as those four aliens looked, they were able to hold their own against the kids.

First contact was established by Nightwing, who swung across the battlefield to dropkick Corvus Glaive. Beast Boy transformed into bear and bit down on Corvus' shoulder. They were both thrown off by the surprisingly strong creature. Corvus pulled his sceptre out. He was boxed in by Raven and Starfire.

"Azarth Metr-," Raven's incantation was ruined by Maw dropping a boulder on her. Kid Flash grabbed Ebony Maw and started running while punching him. Impulse joined them as they zipped through battlefields. Kid Flash held Maw as they jumped over Superman who was being covered in rocks by Thanos. They punched him again. Kid slid under Vegeta as Impulse leapfrogged over Power Stone Thanos. Impulse kicked Maw. Kid Flash went around Time Stone Thanos. Impulse gave Invisible Girl a kiss as he ran through the battlefield. Kid Flash jump-kicked Maw. He raced past a growing mass of dirt, trees and rocks. Impulse had to slalom around Ichigo, the orb and Renji before chasing Kid Flash down. They squeezed between Soul Stone Thanos and Naruto before ending up in the Land of Lightning.

"Where's the skinny dude?" Kid Flash asked.

"I thought you had him," Impulse scratched his head.

"… You forgot the guy we were chasing?"

"Don't look at me, I'm just a kid," Bart shrugged, "You're the mature one."

"I have kid in my name! When have I ever been mature?"

They'd left Maw so far back that he was already back on the battlefield. He landed just in time to step on Supergirl's cape. She hit the ground hard and just a metre away from Black Dwarf, her target. Dwarf grabbed Superboy with his axe and made him eat some dirt. He then grabbed Supergirl and slammed her onto Superboy, before lifting them both up, stacking them on his shoulders and thumping them onto the floor.

"My boobs," Kara complained as her heavy cousin fell on top of her.

"You'll have more to worry about then your breasts when I-," Artemis struck Dwarf in the back with an arrow. It released a cloud of nauseating gas, but it wasn't enough to take Dwarf off his feet. Miss Martian stopped in front of the taller creature and uppercut him. Black hit the floor. An explosion went off in the distance, shaking the cliffs around the youngsters.

Jaime aimed his blasters at Maw. Proxima Midnight blasted him with her staff. The Beetles self-defence protocol kicked in, creating a pair of blasters from Jaime's back. They shot at the evil alien but she jumped. Cassie was knocked off her feet.

"Sorry!"

"I'm okay!" she laughed it off.

Batgirl swung over them. She gave Midnight a lift on her drive-by before nailing her to the cliff's wall. She went for a blade in her utility belt but that took too long. Proxima kicked her off and removed the batarang stapling her to the cliff. The pendulum effect meant Barbara's grappling hook would eventually smash her into the cliff again. The woman fell to earth.

Ebony Maw spotted Aqualad looking a little lost. He ducked under Corvus who stabbed a hole through Raven's stomach. He hopped over Dwarf as he axe-handled Miss Martian into the ground. Maw snatched Proxima's staff and aimed it at Aqualad. He hadn't notice Zatanna shadowing him this whole time. Robin grappling hooked Zatanna's arm, swung around her and dropkicked Maw.

The clever telepath rolled a few times before yelling, "Swap!"

Corvus elbowed the freshly-stabbed Raven into the ground. Starfire retaliated by firing emerald beams aimed at Corvus. Supergirl raised her head to fire ruby beams at Dwarf. Maw pulled Corvus' sceptre away and levitated it at an angle wherein Kara's beams met Starfire's. Starfire got hit before they realise who they were clashing with.

Maw then telepathically flung the sceptre to Proxima, who grabbed it, hopped over a furiously swinging Cassandra, and double-stabbed Bart Allen as he re-entered the battlefield. Corvus' sceptre and her own staff broke through Speedforce Generator and cut through Bart's skin. He coughed out blood.

Wally turned mid-sprint, yanked Midnight away from Bart and slammed her into the cliff. Ebony Maw caught him and threw him to Dwarf, before chucking Corvus' sceptre at him. Dwarf axed Kid Flash into Corvus who stabbed his stomach, barely missing his Speedforce Generator.

"NO!" Supergirl went after Maw but was curbstomped by Dwarf. She continued to grind through the earth until Maw stopped her.

Beast Boy slid over to Raven's side. He was glad to find her healing herself in peace, "Good to see you're okay, mama," Garfield smiled.

"Okay is a stretch," Raven said.

Miss Martian slid an earpiece into her ear, "The adults promised us reinforcements, but here we are… losing," she complained.

* * *

_The Original Thanos vs the Avengers, the Justice League, Peter Quill, Mantis and Drax._

Thanos stood alone in front of some of the greatest fighters ever. As a cool breeze blew through the valley he took a moment to observe his opponents. The fighters representing the Marvel Universe were a mixture of deadly and unpredictable, namely Iron Man, the Hulk, War Machine, Black Panther, Dr Strange, Star Lord, Mantis and Drax. The serious and lethal heroes from the DC Universe were new to him so he didn't really know how to plan for Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, the Flash, Martian Manhunter, Black Canary, Cyborg and the Green Lantern – Hal Jordan. All he could do was wait for them to attack and see where things went.

King T'Challa let out a final war cry. With arms crossed over his chest and helmet around his head he yelled, "Wakanda Forever!"

"He won't get the better of me this time!" Superman ignored the king's motivational words. He quickly flew in to try and throw some punches.

**Power Stone**

Thanos took the first round of hits from the Man of Steel, but slowly built up enough energy to grab him by the face and drop him face-first. Superman collided with the Mad Titan's midriff.

**Power and Mind Stones**

Thanos held the boy in blue back whilst reading his mind. The Titan eased Superman off.

**Space, Reality and Time Stones**

When the Kryptonian came in for another attack he was suddenly covered in rocks. The stones moved around him and forced him into a T-pose. A red and yellow blur sped past but Thanos' attack was already in motion. A wooden crucifix appeared behind him. Kryptonite nails were embedded in his hands and feet as he was hung from the wooden cross.

"That's him out of the fight."

**Space and Reality Stones**

Thanos quickly took Martian Manhunter out of the battle by surrounding him in a cage of fire. The powerful being collapsed before he could think of an exit strategy.

The Flash took off. He zig-zagged around Thanos.

**Time Stone**

Thanos slowed Barry down just as he was about to land an attack.

**Power Stone**

The Flash's knee bent backwards and Thanos got a clean kick in. The knee buckled and broke leaving Barry in a tight predicament. Thanos lifted his foot over the young adult, but Black Canary screamed him back. Flash rolled away yelling, "I'll heal!"

Wonder Woman lassoed the daze Thanos. Iron Man came down with a sword to hack into Thanos' armour. Metallic lines stretched out to bind Thanos to the ground.

"Aim for his exposed skin!" Iron Man yelled. Thanos looked out into the distance. His face was exposed. Two arrows collided literally an inch away from his face. Hawkeye turned to Green Arrow. Green Arrow gave Hawkeye a 'what the fuck' look.

An explosion went off on the other side of the cliff as Thanos broke the metallic lines. He aimed his Gauntlet at Green Arrow.

**Power Stone**

He got blasted by a purple ray. Hawkeye got the message and disappeared into the foliage on one side of the valley's high cliffs. With fist still closed Thanos swung Wonder Woman by the lasso. As she was swinging she didn't notice Thanos pulling her closer and closer.

**Mind Stone**

The lasso weakened around Thanos' arms. Wonder Woman collapsed. Thanos removed the lasso, held her bracelets together before tying them with that same lasso. He flung her at Dr Strange. She fell into one of his portals.

"Last resort!" he created the Mirror Dimension and threw it at a charging Thanos.

**Power Stone**

He shattered it with his gloved hand.

**Power and Space Stones**

He gathered the Mirror Dimension, the earth and water around him to form a condensed ball of destruction that he launched at Strange. Quickly, the Master of the Mystic Arts transformed the destruction into butterflies. They swarmed the god.

Hal Jordan hammered Thanos into the rock.

**Power and Reality Stones**

Hal's ring donated some energy to Thanos, who was three-feet-under, allowing the Titan to literally flip the over so that Hal was underground and Thanos was above it. Hawkeye returned to shoot an arrow at Thanos.

**Time Stone**

The Titan caught it. It covered his Gauntlet with foam that hardened.

"ARGH!" Hulk manhandled Thanos. Swinging him around before throwing him into the cliff. Thanos ripped the foam off as Hulk lunged at the alien.

**Soul and Mind Stones**

The Hulk reverted to Bruce Banner, who Thanos caught. Smoke bombs went off around the Titan.

"Boo-yah!" Cyborg drilled into Thanos' foot, pivoted around his left arm, turned his right arm into a hammer, bashed Thanos into the cliff and used rockets to thrust him deeper into the hole.

**Power and Space Stones**

Cyborg flew from one cliff to the other. He was launched over the large body of water and landed near the Young Justice's fighting area.

The smoke was still thick around the Titan.

A batarang attached itself to his armour. The explosion dented the metal. Batman was already ready to run. His grappling hook dug into the cliff and he swung away.

**Power Stone**

Thanos fired a beam across the valley. Clouds were moving in above the valley. Batman latched onto a ledge. A lightning bolt struck in the background. Batman grappling hooked away as the Power Stone's blast destroyed everything.

"Not on my watch!" Cyborg created a reflective surface. Thanos hit himself with his own beam.

"How primitive," he scolded himself as he stared at the hole in his armour. He felt for blood. A dash of purple liquid was stuck to his fingers. Batman landed next to Wonder Woman, he was gone the next second.

"Thanks Bats," the Amazonian jumped to her feet. Black Canary backed Thanos up into Wonder Woman, who lassoed him and grounded the Titan. The Flash picked up him and sprinted through a portal.

"I TOLD YOU!" he slammed him into a Tyrannosaurus's side. The giant reptile roared. "I'D HEAL!" Flash smashed him into the Sphinx. The sculpture's nose fell off. "YOU BIG!" Barry gathered speed to bash Thanos into Mt Saint Helens. The mountain blew its top. "PURPLE ASSHOLE!" Thanos collided with himself from the past. The Flash from the past took this Thanos into another portal. "Any last words?!" the Flash breathed heavily.

**Power Stone**

The Flash flew back, "Yeah… I'm doing this for your own good!" Thanos looked up…

**Power and Space Stone**

"AHHH!" he bellowed. Veins welled up on his arm as the Infinity Gauntlet melted under the intense power being mustered up. The moon made a crackling sound. More veins popped up around his temple as his arm came down. The Titan collapsed. The moon appeared in the sky.

"Can… can he do that?" Barry asked.

"As you can see… he just did," Strange gulped.


	11. End of Multiverse Part Two

_Thanos vs the Avengers, the Justice League, Peter Quill, Mantis and Drax_

"Yeah… yeah, that's an oof," Quill remarked as the first burning hot rock sped past Thanos and smashed into the earth, raising hell as the embers soared into the air and set plant life on fire, "Come on, let's fuck shit up," Peter commanded his teammates to attack.

Drax got taken out by a falling piece of moon. It crashed into earth sending out a shockwave that almost knocked Mantis off her feet. Star Lord started flying, "Will he be okay?" Mantis asked running.

"Drax is a big boy," Star Lord fired at the Mad Titan.

A piece of the moon transformed from a big white blob to a little woman with flowing white hair. She levitated over the battlefields watching on. It looked like she was getting her things together.

"That can't be good," Tony said before returning his attention to Thanos and firing at his back. The Titan groaned.

**Space Stone**

A piece of the moon clattered into Iron Man sending him into the dirt, and lifting a ton of rock that rained down on the battlefield. The blinding rain of rocks distracted Barry for long enough. He got taken out by a massive piece of destructive rock. The body of water within the valley got struck by a piece of moon that set in motion a tidal wave.

"We should've invited Aquaman," Manhunter concluded as the waves crashed into him with so much force that they bashed his head against the rocks and turned his flaming cage into steam. The wave stopped some of the forest fires before they could spread but the wave that had burnt the farthest charged onwards.

Another flaming ball of moon exploded in the centre of the battlefield. The shockwave of rising earth took out both Black Canary and Wonder Woman. The female superheroes were launched into the air; both their landings weren't too pretty.

Batman fired a bat-shaped device that kept Thanos' Gauntlet open. The Titan ripped it off effortlessly but it turned out to just be a distraction. Strange had cloned himself and used lassos to trap the Titan. Thanos looked up.

"NO!"

Tony rammed a piece of moon into Thanos. Strange flew away. Batman used his grappling hook to zip away. Tony landed next to the crater he'd created, "You throw another moon at me, and I'm gonna lose it!" the rain began to fall. Flaming orbs of death broke through the low-hanging cumulonimbus to spread some more destruction over the land.

"Eye in the Sky is online!" Shuri announced. Tony's heart sank as the battle swung in their favour.

**Power, Space and Reality Stones**

The landscape shifted as an injured Thanos rose from the crater using a piece of earth.

"Rotation!" Thanos was thrown off his pedestal by a fourteen-year-old brat. Almost half the moon slamming into earth disturbed the gravitational pull so Thanos fell a bit slower than usual. This gave Spider-Man time to web up his Gauntlet and fling the EITS drone into the sky.

Peter grabbed Hanabi's waist as he swung them away, "My spidey senses are going off like crazy! Almost like when I fought against-,"

"RASENGAN!" Konohamaru landed a powerful hit as Thanos met the floor.

**Power Stone**

Konohamaru landed next to Peter. The Titan slowly got up.

"So you were the one chasing me? I thought there were three of you," Spider-Man said.

"There were."

"CATACLYSM!" a young blonde in black leather tapped Thanos' armour. He landed next to a blue-haired lady in a red and black suit. Thanos could only watch as his breastplate came apart. Everything but his helmet disintegrated leaving him open.

"Took you long enough," Tony's helmet covered his face. He blasted off.

"Wouldn't have hurt to say 'thank you'," Ladybug put her hands on her hips.

"Oh no, he doesn't say 'thank you'… father issues and whatnot," Peter explained with his arm still wrapped around Hanabi's waist.

"Been there," Cat Noir smirked.

"Shall we?" Peter turned to Hanabi who was already focused on the battle happening on the other side of the pond. Spider-Man took off.

* * *

**PERFECTLY BALANCED**

**CHAPTER ELEVEN**

**End of Multiverse Part Two**

* * *

"INCOMING!" Gaara landed on the **sandy **battlefield. Thanos was pushed away from Naruto as the redhead gathered enough sand to give himself a comfortable landing.

_Soul Stone Thanos vs the Konoha 13 and the Sand Siblings._

Gaara took a step out of his sand protection. Naruto warned him, "Be careful, he weakens people."

"Same old enemy, different colour!" Gaara flung the Sand Spear. It hit Thanos as just a rapidly rushing block of sand. Gaara squinted. He created three Sand Shuriken. They spun towards Thanos but hit him as balls of sand. Thanos growled.

He began to charge.

"Gaara! Run!"

"How do we defeat him?"

"I don't think we can… we just need to-," before Naruto could finish his sentence, Gaara had already bashed Thanos into the wall with a wave of sand. The rocks collapsed onto the Titan. The moon broke apart above them.

Gaara raised his hand to gather some sand up. It formed a hard dome over the battlefield which absorbed the moon's descent.

"You're like one sandy Swiss army knife," Naruto noticed.

"I just want to end this as quickly as possible!" Gaara hit Thanos with another wave of sand. Suddenly Naruto lit up. Fiery yellow energy surged through him as he activated his Kyuubi Chakra Mode, "You have the strongest being in the Ninja World living in your stomach, yet you only chose to use its power now?"

"I haven't heard from Kurama all day… but I'm not one to complain dattebayo," Naruto looked at his hand. He formed a fist. He had more than enough power remaining to take out Thanos. Yellow balls shot out of his hand and latched onto the other shinobi. Their souls lit up and the power of hope overcame them. Sakura used her newfound strength to slot an earpiece into her ear.

"Shuri?" she growled.

"Sakura Haruno, how is your battle going? I can see all your heat signatures but you're being blocked out by a dome of sand."

"Not so good, we're fighting some sort of orange-suited Thanos and it's not looking good," she admitted.

"Orange?" Sakura could hear some clicking in the background, "Orange… orange… that's the Soul Stone Thanos. Thanos must've split himself into clones based on the different powers of the six Stones he's already collected. The Soul Stone has the ability to see, detect, steal and regenerate souls, along with having the ability to control both life and death. In your world chakra is considered a measurement of soul, so he has the ability to steal it from you, and if what Naruto told me is true, when your chakra metre hits zero, you die."

"We need a solution," Sakura yelled.

Thanos drained the chakra from the sand holding him against the wall. The sand ran off him like a granular waterfall.

"The solution is simple… well, simple for me to say. Hit him with something that doesn't require chakra, then when his hand is open hitting with some quick and deadly moves, something so quick it won't risk anyone's lives… like a combo attack," Shuri explained.

"Naruto! I have an idea!"

"I heard!" he shouted from across the battlefield.

"Tenten!" Naruto looked over to the weapons' specialist.

The Chinese kunoichi nodded before unravelling a large scroll. It shot yellow-chakra-enhanced kunai knives at the Mad Titan. He didn't move. The chakra disappeared but that boosted the kunai knives. They penetrated his armour and dug into his thick purple skin. The pain forced him to open his fist for a second. Gaara threw his right hand out. Tiny bullets of sand dug into the kunai knife holes and entered the Titan's bloodstream. Gaara bought everyone extra seconds.

Ino attacked next. She threw floral darts at the Mad Titan. They exploded around him, shrouding him in purple mist. "Locked on!" Ino managed to find Thanos' soul. His fist was open.

The end began with Ino.

The other shinobi leapt back as Chouji tripled in size, "Super Expansion Jutsu!"

"Shadow Grab Jutsu!" Shikamaru's shadow latched onto Chouji's.

Ino touched Shikamaru's back. The Ino-Shika-Chou formation was complete. _"Sensory Communication!"_ Ino took charge of the combined attack. Whilst this Thanos clone had the Soul Stone in his possession, Ino possessed the equivalent of the Mind Stone in her hands.

"Let's start things off boss lady!" Chouji told Ino.

"It's in your hands, Chouji!" Shikamaru's eyes closed. The armoured shinobi nodded before rolling at an increasing speed.

"To avoid running into the cliff, go left, Chouji!" Ino commanded.

"I wanna do as much damage as I can! I must double-up!" Chouji doubled his already tripled size. The massive ball of flesh loomed over the Mad Titan. The clouds dispersed around Chouji, "HUMAN BOULDER YO-YO!"

He slammed into the Titan.

"Let's go for our ultimate combination," Kiba told his future wife.

"But we need Shino for that," she said.

"I've… been here this whole time," Shino angrily said, shrouded in yellow chakra.

"Then let's go," Hinata grabbed Shino's hand before turning to Kiba. They stared at each other… he opened his hand. Hinata looked into his eyes. He had an apologetic look in him… she grabbed his hand. The chakra grew more vigorous. Chouji rolled away. Kiba dashed forward with Akamaru.

"Man-Beast Combination Transformation: Double-Headed Wolf!" the beast growled to life as Kiba and his best friend fused together. Thanos was stunned. Hinata jumped onto the fusion as it began spinning like a saw blade. She grabbed onto the edges and coated it in a mixture of blue and yellow chakra. They're combined attack didn't break through Thanos' orange armour, but it did open up an opportunity for Shino to work his magic.

"Shino!" Kiba and Hinata yelled as they jumped away hand-in-hand.

"I know," the enigmatic man covered Thanos in bugs, draining him of most of his energy. He had to stop because the next combination had begun.

"First Gate! Gate of Opening! OPEN!" Rock Lee's yellow chakra rapidly rose around him, "NEJI!"

"I hate you," the Hyuuga had to see before activating his Byakugan.

Tenten unleashed two more scrolls that launched a barrage of kunai knives, shuriken and demon wind shuriken at the Mad Titan. Rock Lee and Neji leapt into the air. Thanos gathered enough energy to deflect all the weapons upwards with his Gauntlet. He didn't see Neji and Rock Lee coming down from above.

Gaara acted quickly, gathering the sand in his bloodstream into his left hand. He couldn't close it.

"THIRD GATE! GATE OF LIFE! OPEN! PRIMARY LOTUS!" Lee roared as he wrapped Neji in bandages and began spinning.

"Stop yelling! Eight Trigrams: Palm Rotation!" the spinning increased until it was at full speed. The deflected weapons fused with the falling tornado to form a deadly layer of metal. Thanos didn't know what to do. He took it like a man. The vortex touched down on top of the Mad Titan. The impact crater rocked the battlefield. Just a few more hits would do.

"All this sand, how could I not chip in," Gaara lifted Thanos into the sand dome. The dome turned into Shukaku Arms that surrounded the Mad Titan. Temari and Kankuro levitated around the orb on sandy hoverboards.

Kankuro appeared with Sasori by his side, "FIRE!" he commanded, shooting burning streams into the sphere. Temari appeared on the other side with her massive fan. She blasted hot air into the ball to fan the flames. They both soared away.

Sasuke stood on one end of the surrounding cliffs. Naruto jumped to the other side.

It was Gaara's turn to clench his fist. The Scorched Sand Coffin around the Mad Titan shrunk until it had crushed Thanos leaving him on the verge of death. As he fell, he just needed one more attack to end it all.

Sasuke formed Perfect Susanoo around him. The giant purple humanoid exhaled before absorbing Naruto's Kyuubi Chakra to form a bow and arrow of lightning. The lightning from his bow and arrow attracted more lightning that struck Susanoo, doubling his level of perfection. Susanoo prepared the attack, "This… is currently my most powerful technique."

Naruto mustered up some more chakra, he withdrew his chakra from everyone else except Sasuke and Sakura. A giant three-headed, six-armed Kurama formed around him. Two Rasenshuriken formed on either side of the hellacious creature, "This is for my Nindo, all the people whose promises I vowed to keep!"

"I'm a part of Team Seven too…" she convinced herself before leaping to the top of the cliff to form a triangle between the trio. Sakura also used up the last of her chakra, knowing that this would be her final technique. The diamond on her forehead vanished, putting to an end to four years of gathering chakra. Inner Sakura turned blue as the chakra flowed through her. Sacrificing her Strength of a Hundred Seal wasn't enough for Sakura, she knew she had to destroy her innermost self to finish Thanos off. She had to sacrifice Inner Sakura, "… and this technique will prove it!"

"Indra's Arrow!" he launched the arrow.

"Dattebayo!" he flung the balls of energy.

"Shannaro!" she threw a giant Inner Sakura at Thanos for a precise chakra punch of death.

The Soul Stone Thanos snapped his fingers, but only had enough energy left in him to affect two people. Naruto vanished. Gaara vanished. The Orange Titan was drowned in a yellow, purple and blue storm of destruction. He literally evaporated as the attacks destroyed him at a molecular level.

_Suddenly – An Orange Dimension_

Gaara looked around. He was in an eternal orange plain. A new realm.

"Are you dead?"

Gaara quickly spun.

He was staring into the eyes of a young green-skinned girl with pigtails. The redhead paused, he searched the area around him for any other signs of life, maybe this little girl's mother. The world extended in all directions with an inch of water under his feet. He used chakra to stay above the liquid. He looked back at the girl who was standing on an altar. He remembered the question.

"I… I don't know."

The girl sulked. Her eyes shimmered as tears began to well up, "Do you know how to get out?"

Gaara felt sorry for the poor girl. He wondered how she'd gotten here in the first place, "No."

_Meanwhile – Another Section of the Orange Dimension_

Naruto gasped. He stumbled to his feet, coughing and choking. A woman in grey robes stood up and carefully approached the young blonde. They were in a never-ending desert with an orange sky and a hot arid breeze.

"Does your fox bite?" an elderly green-skinned woman asked.

Naruto tried to speak through the panic attack, "Am I dead?" the woman didn't answer, "Where's Thanos? Sasuke! Sakura-chan… fox?"

… Naruto looked over his shoulder. Behind him stood a man, no older than Naruto with bright red messy hair. He lifted his head to reveal eyes as red as his hair with piercing black pupils. The new figure was wearing a smart white long-sleeved shirt, black Chino pants and a matte black waistcoat. Naruto wondered why she'd referred to the guy as a fox, but then he noticed the orange-red ears blending in with his hair, and the three fox tails swaying behind the man.

"Kurama?" Naruto asked.

"… Is this some sick fantasy you're having of me?" Kurama didn't have his iconic bellow anymore. He sounded manly, but not manly enough, "Why do I sound like a pubescent male?"

"I don't care right now, do any of you know how to get out of here?" the woman asked.

"I don't even know what this place is exactly," Naruto looked around.

"This is my landscape," Kurama said, but he sounded confused, "At least, this is what it turned into after Thanos."

"No, this is the Soul Stone's pocket dimension. I'm Gamora by the way," the woman held her wrinkly hand out.

"Gamora? Name sounds familiar… Naruto," the blonde shook her hand.

"Well Naruto, it looks like we've both gotten ourselves into quite the pickle," Gamora looked out into the distance.

"But I'm pretty sure killing Thanos will get us out of here."

The voice sounded familiar. Naruto and Kurama both looked around until they spotted the handsome blonde bastard.

"Minato," Kurama groaned.

"Tou-chan!" Naruto rushed through the loose sand to hug his father.

* * *

_Mind Stone Thanos vs Legion and Jean Grey_

Thanos made sure he kept his left hand clenched. In front of him stood Jean Grey, behind him stood Legion. There was no point in attacking first. The Phoenix glanced past the Mad Titan and asked, "What's the plan?"

"Just keep up!"

The cliffs under them exploded as the environment transformed into plain white surroundings. Thanos grabbed himself a piece of rock and used it as a hoverboard to try and get some distance between the psychics. Legion caught Jean Grey and used the same transport as Thanos.

"If your plan was to try and kill **me** then you're doing a good job," Jean protested.

"I'm kinda getting used to these powers still, I actually just wanted to create a sinkhole under his feet," Legion soared through the rocky field, "Where'd he go?"

Thanos came from around a rock and slapped Legion into a rock. Jean Grey flipped around and blasted him with a phoenix-shaped burst of energy. Thanos generated a shield. He was blown back.

Jean Grey prepared an attack.

Thanos trapped her in a cage of floating rocks, "That's where you belong," he sprouted a pair of wings and levitated. Legion appeared. The Titan grabbed him and flipped him over onto a rock.

* * *

Legion quickly changed the environment again. It morphed into a dingy asylum with white concrete walls and an alarm that dyed the rooms in red light. Thanos was wrist-deep in the asylum's thick walls. Legion was on the other side. Free. Legion had changed the area to obtain an advantage. He was back in the mental institution that he'd been in for at least a quarter of his life. He knew these hallways like the back of his hand.

An enraged Thanos destroyed the walls with pure mental strength.

"Ah shit, I should've ran, shouldn't I."

Thanos choked the psychic before lifting him into the air. Jean Grey broke the opposite wall, behind the Mad Titan. The woman blasted him in the back with more Phoenix Force. Thanos ragdolled into a wall. Legion made a run for it, grabbing Jean as they turned the corner. The asylum was like a labyrinth, Thanos would have to find the psychics before he could manhandle them.

"Where are we going?" Jean Grey asked as David dragged her through the corridors.

"We're getting as far away from him as possible," David kept looking over his shoulder.

"There's two of us and one of him, what's the worst he could possibly do?"

Thanos broke through another wall.

"Probably what he did to that wall!" David ran into another room. Thanos broke through the wall. Legion and the Phoenix were running in a straight line, Thanos was charging diagonally. As David got to the main lounge Thanos sideswiped him. Jean was thrown across the room. Legion landed on a table. Thanos stopped charging and laughed.

"What you do is limited by what you can think up. The Mind Stone unlocks the deepest wrinkles of the brain. My-," Thanos was interrupted by guards bursting through the doors and firing bullets at the Titan, "You must be on your last legs if you believe they could defeat **me**!"

A single yellow wave of energy turned them all to nothing. Thanos' attention returned to the two psychics. Legion had rushed to Jean's side and was trying to pick her up. Thanos blitzed the duo.

* * *

The world altered as Jean's eyes glowed. Thanos ran into another wall. Legion skidded to a stop on a fuzzy rug. Jean Grey landed on a soft patch of grass. They were at Professor Xavier's School for the Gifted.

"That's not gonna stop me!" Thanos yelled as he punched through the solid drywall. Splinters attacked David before the Infinity Gauntlet could. The swinging fist connected with the young man's jaw sending him through the floor and into the room below. Thanos leapt through the hole and landed on Legion's back. Jean Grey crashed through the window, bringing with her a fiery phoenix that launched itself at the Titan.

He was blown into the next room.

"It's your turn to rescue me," Legion said wiping the blood from his lips.

"Considering how you were the one who decided to run the first time, I don't think it counts as rescuing," Jean's eyes went black. A yellow ray blasted Jean in the face. She recoiled.

"Damn!" Legion got lifted into a wall. Thanos punched his gut. Legion forced him off and through the floor. Thanos' hands grabbed Legion through the floor. David came down too. Jean regained her vision. Thanos rushed up the stairs. She got lifted into a wall. Thanos punched her midsection. Jean blasted her through the floor. Thanos' hands reached through the floor/ceiling and captured Jean's ankles. She fell through the floor. David saw Grey get powerbombed through the ceiling and land on the wooden floor.

Jean blasted Thanos through another wall using a phoenix fireball. David got to his feet and prepared himself. Grey suddenly got blasted in the face, incapacitating her. David got lifted into a wall. He blasted Thanos through the floor. Thanos pulled him down along with him. Thanos ran up the stairs as Grey regained her sight. Thanos pushed her into the wall. Jean forced him through the floor. Thanos pulled her down too. Jean used a phoenix fireball to rid herself of Thanos' presence. When that same process occurred again, Legion stopped to look around.

Thanos had just dropped him through a wooden floor and Jean Grey was not too far behind, "Don't shoot!" he warned. Thanos didn't move. He was waiting for another shot to come in… "We're in a mental loop!" David yelled before changing the scenery to try and break the loop.

When reality shifted they were on a dead planet with numerous moons floating high above its surface. Legion turned to Jean. Jean did the same to David. They were both bruised and a little roughed up.

Jean asked, "Where did you take us?"

"My home…" they turned to the Mad Titan. He was sitting on a throne, on the steps of what looked like a desolate fortress, one that had been picked apart by riots, "And you've actually been here for quite some time. You just didn't know it yet."

Jean looked back at David, "I can't change anything."

Thanos stood up, "I told you, the Mind Stone makes me exponentially more powerful than both of you combined… now, you DANCE!" Thanos blasted them with a yellow beam.

* * *

_P_ _ower Stone Thanos vs the Z-Fighters and Saitama_

The moon crackled and collapsed. Massive pieces of the giant satellite hurtled to earth. The purple-armoured Thanos glanced up at the sky for a second, forgetting that he was holding Goku in his arms. The Saiyan kicked the Mad Titan off and dashed away. Vegeta burst out from the rocks and launched a flurry of fists. Thanos could only block a few, the rest connected with his armour.

A purple wave froze Vegeta in mid-air. Thanos grabbed his leg, spun him a couple of times then flung him into the cliff, bringing more of it down along with the moon pieces. Goku grabbed a section of it and hurled it at Thanos. A purple beam broke through the moon allowing Kakarot to land a shot. Thanos took the punch. He got Goku's neck and pinned him against the floor.

"TRI-BEAM!" Thanos got blasted in the back. Goku slipped away.

"Hit him again!" Goku yelled.

"Tri-Beam!" a crater began to form. Thanos gradually got back up.

"One more time!"

"Tri-Beam!" Tien shot the Mad Titan again, and again, and again, and again, until the Ki had been drained from his veins. He fell to earth, luckily Goku caught him.

"Hello, who's this," Saitama asked playfully as the earpiece came online, "Shuri huh? Thanos… he's okay, I guess."

"Hey!" Goku screamed across the grassy clearing.

"What?"

"Does she know how to help us beat this guy or not?" the Saiyan asked.

"I don't know… do you?" Saitama whispered into the earpiece.

"You're up against the Power Stone Thanos. He has the ability to tap into an unlimited source of energy and power. Luckily for you, the power is not infinite, in that. It only releases the amount of energy the user requires for the situation," Shuri explained. Saitama sauntered over to Goku so he could also hear Shuri's master plan, "So defeating him will have to come down to a little thing called timing. You'll have to discharge more energy than he's discharging when you make contact, but he can increase his power in a split second so it has to be a surprise."

Saitama wasn't really paying attention, "So basically be stronger than him, got it," the bald hero crushed the earpiece in his hand.

Thanos emerged from the smoky crater with a few dents in his armour, "Is that the-," Saitama was in front of him, "- best you can-."

The Power Stone was the only thing that saved Thanos from being punched out of existence. A purple aura around the Mad Titan was proof that he was generating too much power for Saitama to wipe him out with one hit. So the lovable idiot tried a couple more. Speedy fists connected with the Eternal, but he increased his power output and took them all. They were damaging his armour, but that was the last of his worries.

Thanos grabbed Saitama's right fist, ending the barrage, "Worm!" Thanos kicked Saitama. He went for a stomp but Yamcha rushed in to save him.

"I'm okay," the One Punch Man jumped to his feet. Goku grabbed his cape and stopped him from jumping in.

"Wait, I think I've got a plan," Goku said.

"Great," Yamcha laughed, "You know it's bad when Goku's the one coming up with the plans."

Saitama turned his back to the Mad Titan, "What's the plan?"

"I'm gonna need everyone else to distract him," Goku told Yamcha.

"D-distract him?"

A flaming piece of moon collided into the cliff and made a beeline for Thanos. The Mad Titan caught it with his Gauntlet. Piccolo spotted an opportunity and attacked. Thanos caught the Namekian's fist with his right hand. Yamcha, following the plan, joined in on the assault. He hammered away at Thanos' back. Tien mustered up some more energy and tackled Thanos. The Eternal remained upright. The total energy output was off the charts.

"Vegeta, come here," Goku spotted the pure Saiyan as he pushed some boulders aside.

"Kakarot?"

"We have to fuse… but ever since my fight with that blonde, my body's been limited so I can only exert a certain level of power," he turned to Saitama, "When we fuse you'll have to go for a punch-."

"The last time we tried to outpunch him it didn't work, Kakarot," Vegeta was tired of being thrown into cliffs.

"That's because he adjusted his power level when he saw us approaching. He'll raise his power to block off your punch. We'll have to teleport in the moment before they touch fists and hit him with something big."

"Like what?" Vegeta asked.

"Big Bang Kamehameha Times One Thousand," Goku suggested.

"Your body's giving up on you, can you handle putting that much stress on yourself?" Vegeta asked.

"Aww, are you worried about me?" Goku chuckled.

"Of course not, I'm just… your body will be my body so I don't want to feel your pain is all."

"You're not doing this for yourself Vegeta… you're doing this my son… and yours."

Thanos brushed all of them off, crushing the meteorite in the process. The Mad Titan thrust them all away with a purple wave of energy.

"Here I come!" Saitama made sure Thanos saw him coming. Time slowed down. Saitama took a step. Thanos took a step. The One Punch Man pulled his right fist back. Thanos did the same. They simultaneously went for a punch. The Power Stone automatically adjusted itself to be one interval above Saitama in terms of strength.

"NOW!" a voice that sounded like two separate voices merged yelled from Thanos' left side. The Eternal made eye contact with the blue-haired middle-aged man, "Instantaneous Teleportation Big Bang Kamehameha x1000!" he had a big blue orb in front of his cupped hands. Thanos didn't have time to adjust.

Saitama connected. Gogeta connected.

Thanos' armour ripped from his body. Skin began to peel, fly off and evaporate as Thanos started to die. He grabbed Gogeta's neck, stopping the explosion of energy.

"I'll crush you!" was his last phrase.

Saitama upped the ante. His punch turned to a barrage of fists. Thanos didn't have time to crush the Saiyan as the hero punched every piece of Thanos away. Saitama's final hit was so powerful, it opened up the clouds. A scar of sunlight opened up.

The Power Stone Thanos was gone.

* * *

_T_ _ime Stone Thanos vs The Fantastic Four, Steve Roger and his Nomads, Ash, Misty, and Brock._

Thanos reversed the time on the forcefield around him. When the nigh-invisible dome reformed Thanos was outside of it. The Mad Titan moved quickly. He took down Steve Rogers. Then he took down Natasha. Susan dropped next. Sam took to the skies just as Thanos got to him. Sam backed up mid-flight until he was in front of the Eternal.

Thanos knocked him out as a fiery ball of moon soared past them and crashed into the forest. The Thing came from behind and caught Thanos in a full nelson, locking his arms above his head.

"Flame on!" the Human Torch caught fire and aimed a fireball at Thanos' knee. The unarmoured flesh scorched causing the Titan to flinch.

"Aim for his fist," Reed was too late. Thanos clenched.

A burst of lightning struck both the Thing and Thanos, immobilising both of them. Pikachu landed next to Ash, "Nice one, Pikachu!"

A section of the moon crashed on top of Thanos and the Thing, taking them out of the fight for a few seconds.

The Invisible Woman's earpiece came online, "Hello," she greeted.

"Miss Storm, you are up against the Time Stone Thanos. He has the ability to rewind, fast-forward or even freeze time. You need to be unpredictable, so that even if he reverses time the next time around you won't be caught out," Shuri explained.

"How are we supposed to know when time's been sped up or slowed down, it all looks like time from our perspective," Susan complained.

"Just be unpredictable, and aim for his back. When his fist opens, take that split second opportunity to launch a barrage of attacks."

"… Just be unpredictable, she says," Susan switched the earpiece off.

"That's my speciality," Johnny laughed.

Thanos disposed of the moon piece before shrugging the Thing off. Thanos made his way to the top of the crater, before almost collapsing.

"Pidgeot use gust!" Thanos was brought to his knees by winds hitting his back. Mr Fantastic stretched himself around the Mad Titan, then tightened around his Gauntlet anchoring him to the ground. The Human Torch bombarded Thanos' back with flames so hot they melted his armour. The Thing slammed into Thanos and held his fist open.

"Get away!" he commanded. Reluctantly, Reed released his grip on Thanos. The rocky bully smashed Thanos against the earth and fought to get the Gauntlet off. Thanos punched the Thing with his right hand until Falcon came down and drilled Redwing into Thanos' arm, paralysing it.

The Thing and Thanos fought for dominance.

* * *

_Reality Stone Thanos vs The Five Kage, Tsunade, the adult Shinobi, Ben, Gwen and Kevin._

Mei continually tried to drown the Mad Titan in molten lava but he took a step back and created a barrier of earth around his body. Ay shrouded his muscular body in lightning before shoulder-charging his way through the barrier.

The moon crackled and a piece smashed into Ay as he broke through the barrier. His lightning armour vanished as he rolled across the cliff. He landed in the thin stream situated between the two legendary statues.

Thanos reappeared behind Hiashi, who was a second too slow, luckily Kakashi rushed in and forced Thanos to back up.

"Hiashi, what's wrong?" Kakashi slowed down.

The Hyuuga leader was breathing heavily, "Kakashi, I-I can't forgive myself for what I just did…"

"What do you mean?"

"I-I killed Chouza," the elderly man kept staring at the warrior's corpse.

The masked Kage placed his gloved hand on Hiashi's shoulder, "Of course you didn't kill Chouza, everything that happens in this battle is Thanos' fault. **Everything** is Thanos' fault, so you need to stop pitying yourself and avenge Thanos!"

Another piece of the moon fell onto the battlefield, but instead of slamming into the earth it shaped itself into a white-haired woman with a long flowing gown. Kakashi knew what was coming next so he delegated the Hokage role to Tsunade for a while before using a Lightning Blade to glide over to where the woman was landing.

Tsunade heard, "You're in charge," and instantly clapped her hands together.

"Mitotic Regeneration: The Hundreds Healing," symbols spread around the former Kage's body. Her healing ability increased tenfold as she entered the battle officially.

"Mrs Senju," Shuri spoke over the earpiece. The voice distracted Tsunade. The Mad Titan charged. Thanos ran into something hard.

"Four Arms!" Ben growled as he took the form of a big red, four-armed behemoth, "You wanna pick on an alien your own size?" they had a quick strength check. Tsunade jumped back to save herself.

"Just call me Tsunade, kid."

"Well Tsunade, you're up against the Reality Stone Thanos. He literally controls reality and can conjure whatever he can think of. Luckily, he's limited to what he can imagine, and due to the lack of the Mind Stone that means if you overload his brain he might panic and you can take advantage. Another thing would be to be creative. He can counter simple things like bullets and laser beams so hit him with something the normal brain can't counter."

"Mei, Oonoki, I have an idea."

* * *

_Kaguya and Kakashi_

A lightning trail followed the masked Hokage as he landed next to the ancient woman, "Kaguya-hime, my name is Kakashi" he introduced himself, hoping Kaguya would've forgotten about their previous encounter.

He was wrong, "You," Kaguya levitated, "You're the one who stole my chakra upon my resurrection."

"Kaguya-hime, wait! This… this fight is about more than chakra. This fight is the biggest we've ever been involved in… which is why we revived you," Kakashi thought on the spot, "We knew that only you'd be able to help us defeat Thanos."

"I'm not a fighter," Kaguya floated away, "I'm a mother."

"Wait, then, I beg of you to lend me some strength. We both know that even in your weakened state, your possession of the Ten Tails' corpse means you have a near infinite reverse of chakra already," Kakashi spoke.

Kaguya pondered.

Kakashi waited.

The Rabbit Princess slipped away into a portal.

A surge of chakra attacked Kakashi. The masked Kage doubled over as the excruciating pain caused his eyes to pulsate, "I… I can-," Kakashi looked up to reveal the double Mangekyou Sharingan, "I can see!"

* * *

_Reality Stone Thanos vs The Four Kage, Tsunade, the adult Shinobi, Ben, Gwen and Kevin._

Yamato launched a wooden shower at the Eternal. The logs turned to fire, but Thanos still took a step back. He fell onto a wooden panel. The panel transformed around him to form a wooden coffin. The coffin grew into a wooden dog statue.

Thanos burnt it down.

Mei hit Thanos' breastplate with a stream of water. Thanos easily blocked the jet of water with his Gauntlet.

The golden glove began to melt, "What?" when a stray droplet brushed Thanos' wrist it burnt through the skin. Each droplet was hiding, within it, an even smaller droplet of lava. Thanos tapped the ground to raise a layer of glass. Ay blitzed behind him, "You're alive?"

Ay wrapped his thick arms around the Mad Titan, flipped him around in mid-air and slammed him into the earth, "LIGER BOMB!" Thanos had landed on some pillows. The pillow turned the snakes. The snakes attacked the Raikage.

"Lightning Blade!" Kakashi came down with his signature technique. Thanos dodged. A Susanoo arm appeared with its own Lightning Blade. The Susanoo arm kept Thanos preoccupied whilst the original launched himself up into the air, "Twin Lightning Shiver!"

Thanos was hit. He turned to punch Kakashi but he created a Mud Wall. The Mud Wall resembled the Hokage Monument, but with dog faces instead. Ay grabbed Thanos again from behind.

"Liger Bomb!" he hit the ground hard. Ay spun around, leapt into the air and came down with an extended leg, "Guillotine Drop!" the lightning surged. Kakashi pulled Ay away.

Thanos went to close his fist. Snakes held his hand open. Another snake held him down. The Mad Titan fought to get out of Anko's grip.

"Keep him down!" Kurenai commanded as she appeared behind Thanos as a cherry blossom tree. The snakes were entangled around the tree as she sprouted from the ground.

"Yamato!" Tsunade signalled for the jounin to attack while Thanos was trapped in a genjutsu. She stopped healing the shinobi and backed up.

"Let's see if I can do it like Hashirama-sama!" Yamato formed the serpent hand sign and channelled all his chakra into the terrain, "Okay… okay… Wood Style: Deep Forest Emergence!" the chakra quickly rushed out of his body as a forest generated from the single 'tree' holding Thanos captive. The forest expanded and grew until it was massive, so massive that Thanos was literally submerged in foliage.

Yamato collapsed.

"Ay!" Tsunade called for the Raikage to approach. He lumbered over to the former Hokage and took a second to breathe.

"You'll need a little elevation. Earth Style: Mobile Core," Oonoki tapped the dusty surface and raised a section of the earth.

"Lightning Release Chakra Mode!" Ay used the last of his chakra to give himself an almost Super Saiyan appearance, "Let's go, Tsunade-hime!" he cupped his hands and gave Tsunade a foothold.

"Go!" she was launched into the stratosphere.

There was a crackling in the forest, "He's gotten out of the genjutsu," Kurenai felt Thanos try to rip the snake from his Gauntlet.

Hiashi activated his Byakugan.

"Hiashi, what's on your mind?" Kakashi asked.

"I'm avenging Chouza!" Hiashi charged into the forest.

"NO!" it was too late. The Hyuuga elder vanished into the dense shrubbery. Oonoki rushed in to stop Kakashi from running in after him.

"You're not gonna let me stop him?" Kakashi questioned.

"Some people just need to sacrifice themselves for the things they love," Oonoki looked up, "Mei-sama! Blaze it!"

"Ooh," Mei moaned as she rubbed her hand against her sexy silhouette. She blew a kiss at the forest setting it alight. The fire roared into the centre and burnt both Hiashi and Thanos. This didn't stop Hiashi from using a Rotation and slowing Thanos down. The Mad Titan grabbed Hiashi's hand to stop him from spinning, but Hiashi headbutted the Eternal.

"Usually a Kage is the one who's ready to die for his villagers, but if a villager decides to show their devotion by dying for his Kage, then it's your job to be a true leader and make their sacrifice count," Oonoki explained.

Tsunade sunk her fist in chakra.

The forest stood no chance. Tsunade dived into the foliage and destroyed it. The shockwave blew everyone off the cliff and dropped them into the valley. The blaze vanished and the Reality Stone Thanos was no more.

* * *

_The Black Order vs Young Justice_

"Beast Boy," Raven muttered.

"Yeah mama?" the young green man smirked.

"Watch out!" a big yellow ball was bearing down on them. Instinctually, Beast Boy changed into a tortoise and protected Raven. Taking a meteorite to the back destroyed his shell, reverted him to a human, knocked him out and the shockwave took out Raven.

Aqualad saw another fiery ball of destruction hurtling towards Starfire. He tried to rush to save her but Corvus grabbed his arm. Aqualad looked up at the meteor, then at Corvus. The tattoos on his arms lit up. Electrified water assaulted Corvus, leaving him motionless. Kaldur'ahm jumped in front of an unconscious Starfire and used Corvus as a shield. The moon piece destroyed the henchman but wasn't enough protection to leave Aqualad and Starfire unscathed, at least they would live.

The remaining Young Justice members swarmed around the remaining Black Order members. Nightwing, Robin and Batgirl had their eyes on Proxima Midnight. Supergirl, Jaime, and Zatanna were ready to take on Ebony Maw. Black Dwarf was left to face off against Superboy, Cassie and Miss Martian.

"I've got this!" Supergirl recklessly flew in. Maw wrapped her in rocks before staring into her eyes. Kara screamed as Maw entered her brain. Superboy rushed to her side first, but Supergirl punched him into the cliffside.

"Now then, Woman of Steel… take them out!" Maw cackled. Supergirl's eyes were a deep crimson. Young Justice took a step back. Superboy lunged in and took Supergirl to the top of the cliff, giving the rest of the team a fighting chance.

Proxima jumped back when she saw Nightwing approach. Robin descended with his staff ready. She grabbed the light tool and rammed it into the cliff. She punched Robin in the nose.

"You bitch!" he exclaimed.

Proxima quickly deflected some batarangs. The small devices exploded to submerge the female alien in smoke. Nightwing swung in from the right. Batgirl appeared from the left with her own grappling hook. Proxima dodged Nightwing's kick and slammed him into Batgirl.

They both let go of their grappling guns and fell. The smoke cleared as Proxima grabbed Batgirl's legs and slammed her onto Nightwing. They groaned. Proxima punched Robin again and banged him onto Batgirl. All three of them moaned.

"Pathetic," Proxima spat.

"Miss Martian, do you need assistance?" Shuri asked.

"Some help wouldn't hurt!" Miss Martian dropped a boulder on Black Dwarf, but he brushed it off, and shoulder-charged Wonder Girl, "What do you have in mind?"

"There… already… there!" Shuri timed it to perfection.

Dwarf raised his axe over Cassie, but suddenly webs held the arm above his head. The ugly creature looked up in bewilderment. Spider-Man yanked on the web as he landed on top of the cliff.

"Your friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man is here, and as an official Avenger, I must place you all under arrest. Anything you say, can and will-," Dwarf dragged Peter down the cliff. The young man flipped in mid-air and tugged on the web to slam Black Dwarf into the earth, "Sir! You are resisting arrest!"

"Thanks," Miss Martian smirked.

"That's just the beginning."

"Eight Trigrams: Sixty-Four Palms!" Hanabi unloaded on Midnight, pinning her against the cliff. Proxima was leaning against the wall for support when Hanabi took a second to fix her hair, "You're wasting precious time I could've spent decorating my hair," she said before levelling the alien with a Vacuum Palm.

"Okay, I'm gonna go help Conner," Miss Martian took to the skies.

* * *

_Miss Martian vs Supergirl_

Megan Morse landed next to an already battered Conner Kent. Supergirl's eyes were still glowing a bright red.

"Thanks M'gann, I must admit, as strong as I am I'm only half-Kryptonian, Kara's gone toe-to-toe with Kal-El… it wasn't looking good for me," Superboy breathed heavily.

"Step aside lovey," Miss Martian pushed Conner back, "I've wanted this fight to happen since day one," Superboy willingly jumped back. Miss Martian took off without making a sound. Kara's eyes widened.

She slammed into Kara and forced the Kryptonian into a cliff. The sonic boom finally caught up to her. M'gann's eyes went blue. Kara's went bright red. Heat beams met Martian beams. The two beams destroyed the surrounding area.

Kara lost. She flew back into her woman-shaped crater.

"I underestimated you!"

"Big mistake!"

They connected again to uproot trees and decimate landscapes. Each hit sounded like steel meeting steel. Kara lifted M'gann. She punched her into the forest. A crater formed.

Kara flew into the crater. M'gann went intangible.

"PUSSY!" she destroyed the ground with her heat beams. M'gann flew above her. Become tangible and drilled Kara into the terrain. An angry Kara shot at anything she could see. Large trees fell into the crater. An intangible M'gann escaped. Kara flung a tree at her. It passed through her. She became tangible.

Kara froze her before charging into her. M'gann thawed out and threw her into the cliff, "I was born in freezing weather," she explained. Kara didn't care. The Kryptonian pushed the Martian into a tree. She elbowed her neck. Eyes lit up.

Martian beam met heat beam. M'gann vaulted over Kara and slammed her. The trees shifted to trap Supergirl. M'gann phased through everything. Kara broke the trees and tackled Miss Martian.

They slammed into the back of Hashirama's statue's head. The large head breaking away from its neck fell into the valley. It rolled into the water, dodging everyone who'd been displaced by Tsunade crashing into the forest.

M'gann flipped them around and punched Supergirl against the statue. The punches stopped when Kara started laughing, "Come on! Hit me harder!" she commanded.

Her eyes lit up. M'gann countered. She still lost though. Before she could fly back, Kara grabbed her cape and clotheslined her. Megan tackled Linda and sent them both into space.

* * *

_The Black Order vs Young Justice_

The fight was coming to an end. Cat Noir drilled his staff into Maw's leg, stopping him from moving. Jaime, Ladybug, Cat Noir and Zatanna surrounded him.

Zatanna cast a spell, "Tekcajtiarts" Maw got stuck in a straitjacket. Cat Noir pulled his staff out. Maw growled.

"Gag mih" his mouth got covered. He was breathing heavily.

"Ekoms dna srorrim… Etaerc Eulb Elteeb snoisulli!" Jaime got multiplied until his clones encircled the alien.

Zatanna fell onto her ass, "Now then… I believe we've won," she started laughing.

* * *

_Space S_ _tone Thanos vs Ichigo, Rukia, Renji and Kaneki_

A piece of moon clattered as it hit the cube Rukia and Renji were trapped in. Thanos, Kaneki and Ichigo were blown away whereas Renji and Rukia were set free. Ichigo glared at Renji. Renji glanced across the clearing and saw the bandaged blade sitting there so peacefully. Thanos sat up.

Renji threw himself onto the sword. Thanos created a portal. Renji fell into it, but the sword was already in motion. Ichigo sat up to grab it. Thanos clenched his fist but a portal opened up. Renji came through it and headbutted the Mad Titan.

"BANKAI!" the sword unravelled and thinned out until it fit comfortably in Ichigo's hand. The orange-haired Soul Reaper jumped to his feet with a Hollow Mask covering half his face.

"Roar! Zabimaru!" Renji got up and released his Zanpaktou.

"O Lord! Mask of flesh and bone, all creation, flutter of wings, ye who bears the name of Man, Truth and Temperance, upon his sinless wall of dreams unleash but slightly the wrath of your claws! Hadou 33: Blue Fire, Crash Down!" Rukia fired a blue wave at Thanos but it disappeared into a portal. Kaneki had to move quickly to dodged it.

Renji swung Zabimaru at Thanos, but his armour was so hard the blade shattered around him. Ichigo missed a Getsuga Tenshou. Rukia missed another Hadou 33.

"Bakudou 1: Restrain!" Renji got Thanos with the same technique.

"When did you learn Kido?"

"Oh shut the fuck up!" Renji was tired of hearing that question.

Kaneki spun around to kick Thanos' helmet off. The Eternal broke the simple Bakudou only to be impaled from all angles by Zabimaru's pieces. The sharp pieces cut through his armour and penetrated his skin.

Thanos clenched his fist again. The piece of moon that hit Rukia's cage reformed, although smaller it was still flaming and deadly. He aimed it at Ichigo but chose to throw it at Renji who got caught by surprise. Zabimaru fell off.

Ichigo went for a slice but Thanos caught the blade with his Gauntlet. "Get down!" Rukia commanded, "Scattered beast bones! Spire, Crimson Crystal, Steel Wheels! The wind if it moves, the sky if it stops, the tone of the spear striking fills the lone castle! Hadou 63: Thunder Roar Cannon!" the petite lady fired a bolt of lightning that pierced Thanos' breastplate and nailed him to the tree.

Ichigo looked back with widened eyes, "If I was a couple centimetres taller you would've hit me!"

"Did you not hear me say 'get down'?"

Ichigo was suddenly thrown away by a distortion of space. Thanos' pupils constricted as he destroyed the lightning bolt and stumbled away from the tree. Kaneki launched a tentacle that pierced Thanos' chest hole.

Thanos used the Space Stone to force Kaneki closer, before grabbing his neck, "Ngh! Any last words, you freak?"

"Wait!" Rukia intervened. Thanos was struggling to breathe, but he was still stronger than the four of them, Rukia had to use her trump card, "I have a final wish."

"… What is it?"

"Would I be right in saying you're powered by that blue Stone on your glove? What… what does it represent?" Rukia asked.

"You're an observant one, if I didn't have to kill you I would've adopted you," Thanos coughed up some blood, "It's the Space Stone, each Stone is colour-coded with Green being Time, Yellow being Mind, Orange being Soul, Blue being Space, Red being Reality, Rainbow-coloured being Dimension or Multiversal, and Purple Being Power. Meaning you can simply call me the Space Stone Thanos."

"Perfect," that was exactly what Rukia wanted to hear.

A young man walked around the tree and held a little notebook up to the Mad Titan, "Space Stone Thanos huh?" he said writing that name into the book… "How would you like to die, Space Stone Thanos?"

"On my farm, watching the sunrise… a cold beer wouldn't hurt," Thanos underestimated the gravity of the situation. He started coughing more blood. The holes in his body (one through his chest, the others through his stomach) turned dark purple.

"That sounds like it'd take too long. How about I just turn you to dust?" the brown-haired teenager asked.

"That actually sounds like a good idea," Thanos grinned. Suddenly his Gauntlet began turning to dust and disappearing, "What? What is that book? Who are you?"

The young man closed it and waved it around in front of the Mad Titan, "My name is Light, and this is the Death Note, Space Stone Thanos," he opened it again and wrote the next set of names, "I've come to end this fight, so leave this world. You and your friends… Time Stone Thanos, Mind Stone Thanos, Soul Stone Thanos, Power Stone Thanos, Reality Stone Thanos… and finally Thanos, himself."

He wrote 'turn to dust', then closed the book and laughed hysterically. He didn't have to write most of those names since they'd already been defeated, but one-by-one, the Thanos clones began to evaporate.

Jean Grey and David Haller fell back, thinking they'd lost the mental battle, only for Mind Stone Thanos to start disappearing, "… Lucky you."

The wrestling match between the Thing and Thanos ended when Thanos' Gauntlet turned to dust. The Eternal in green armour faded from existence.

The original Thanos stopped in front of a dazed Black Panther. The African King had been dominated by the Mad Titan so T'Challa was expecting a slap across the face from the Titan, but Thanos stopped and looked around.

"Something's happening…" he grumbled.


	12. Prologue to the Darkseid of the Moon

"Hey Gamora, can I ask you something?" Naruto whined.

The elderly lady groaned, "If you're going to ask me where we are again, I'm going to slap you silly."

"Both of you are annoying in my eyes," Kurama growled.

"Everything is annoying to you," Minato remembered.

"Shut up!"

"You too," Gamora shouted, "What do you want to ask about?"

"I need relationship advice."

"We're trapped in an infinite desert and you're worried about your non-existent relationship issues?" Kurama yelled.

"I'm your father, you should be asking me about relationship stuff," Minato whined.

"You both have the same fucking whine," Kurama noticed.

"Gamora's a woman," Naruto made a good point, "I'm stuck between four women at this point. Hinata, Kara, Shuri and Barbara."

"Barbara?" Kurama asked.

"I slept with her."

"You didn't sleep with her, you were drunk so you slept in the same bed as her…" Kurama elaborated.

"I missed so many milestones," Minato chuckled, "I wanted to be there the first time you drank alcohol."

"It wasn't that impressive, honestly," Kurama shrugged.

"Give me a little information about each one," Gamora requested as she led the pack.

"Don't forget to tell her that Hinata's married," Kurama said walking behind Naruto.

"You're going after a married woman? Don't be a homewrecker," Gamora said.

"She's engaged," was Naruto's defence mechanism.

As they traversed the vast sandy dunes Kurama simply admitted, "Hinata's a bitch."

"Hey!" Naruto got defensive.

"I'm sorry kid, I just don't like her, but then again I don't like anyone but you, so it's not really an insult."

"Hinata is the most beautiful person I've ever met."

"So you like her just because she's physically attractive?" Gamora sounded disgusted.

"No, of course not. Beauty doesn't have to be physical. She's just so selfless and pure, and humble. Add that to her physical beauty, and she becomes someone you'd love to come home to every night. Funny… I didn't even know she liked me until about a year ago. I spent twelve months planning our lives out in my head… only for her to be stolen by another man," Naruto kicked a rock over.

"She's married. That's a big no-no," said Gamora.

"Yes! Listen to the green one," Kurama demanded.

"She's engaged."

"Same difference," she explained, "Leave her to deal with her husband. What about the other three?"

"Tou-chan? Aren't you gonna defend me?"

"Sorry Naruto, my hands are tied here. You can't marry a married woman… unless you're from the southern part of Fire Country… but we don't talk about the southern part of Fire Country."

"I'd prefer you fuck the Super one."

"Kara?"

"Tell me about Kara," Gamora said.

"Kara is also very beautiful, physically, and it feels like she completes me."

"Oh brother," Kurama rolled his eyes.

"She's like the female version of me. She's blonde, has blue eyes, nice skin, she's so loud and positive. Her smile brightens up the room and I feel like she likes me as much as I like her…"

"But?" Gamora slowed down.

"But she feels too perfect."

"… The fuck does that mean?"

"Am I the only one who feels weirded out by hearing an old lady swear?" Minato asked.

"I'm not even thirty years old! The Soul Stone just split me into two versions of myself. This feeble elderly version and an even feebler child version."

"What happens when we find your child version?" Kurama wondered.

"I was tasked with researching the Soul Stone. I know how to get out, but my younger version is too young to know the complicated process and this old brain has forgotten it."

"So, we can get out?!" Kurama smiled.

"Only after Naruto tells me about the last girl."

"Actually I can get us out," Minato realised.

"Shuri?" for some reason they ignored the Fourth Hokage.

"We don't have to-."

"Shuri," Kurama growled, "I don't really like her much either."

"Oh, ignore Kurama, he just wants me to marry Kara because, as he says, our child would probably be the strongest thing in the universe," Naruto focused on Shuri, "And Princess Shuri is not a girl. She's just all woman. She's so smart and she's so funny, and she introduced me to something called memes. I don't know how I lived my life without memes… it's just that she's a princess, and I'm just a demon. There's no way she could love someone like me."

"The kid's an idiot," Kurama remarked, "Kit, cover your ears and go "La-la-la-la-la"."

"La-la-la-la-la-la-la," Naruto followed his tenant's orders to the T.

"Shuri is madly in love with the kid, but now you can see why it took him sixteen years for him to find out that Hinata had a crush on him," he looked back at Naruto and motioned for him to uncover his ears.

"I feel like a child amongst you guys."

"You are," Kurama pointed out, "You're nineteen. She's thirty. He's thirty. I'm a thousand."

"You don't look a thousand," Gamora raised an eyebrow.

"Tailed Beasts age slowly. It took me nine hundred years to hit puberty, so although I may be a thousand, I'm practically his age when compared to other Tailed Beasts."

"What about Barbara?" Minato asked, already forgetting about the fact that he could get them out of there.

"Barbara is someone out of left field, I'll admit. She's not really someone that I can't live without, we don't talk much but when we do we actually have one or two things in common… the good thing, dattebayo. It's more a need to know more about her, and the more I learn about her the more I seem to enjoy her presence. She's just a mystery that I would like to solve."

"Aww," Minato chuckled, "That's how I used to feel about Kushina," he looked up to the skies.

"If we talk about anymore lovey dovey shit, I'm literally going to throw up on someone, watch me!" Kurama roared.

* * *

"Take my hand," Gaara told the young Gamora as she waded through the ankle-high water. She wrapped her whole hand around his finger. He channelled chakra into her. She floated onto the water's surface.

"How did you do that?" she was utterly blown away.

"Magic," he grinned, "Do you know how to get out of here?" the redhead asked.

"I do, but it's so long and hard that my brain can't get it," she cried, "We'll be here forever," the tears rolled down her cheeks.

Gaara crouched to her level. He gently wiped a tear away and activated his inner parent, "Nothing is forever," his inner parent needed some work, but he quickly tried to recover, "Nothing is forever in this place. We'll both get out together and you can live your life."

"You promise?"

"Yes, and I'll make an extra promise. _When_ we get out, I'll buy you some ice-cream."

"Really? How much?"

"A lot. Enough to fill your little tummy to the max," Gaara closed his eyes and smiled.

"I love you, mister," she giggled, "I wish you could be my dad."

Gaara chuckled, "Ah, unfortunately I can't have kids of my own… my kids aren't good swimmers," he said that last part to himself, "But for now, sure, I'll be the father you need."

* * *

"Should we cast a vote then?" Naruto asked.

"A vote?" Kurama had forgotten what they were talking about, perhaps the heat was starting to get to him.

"Who do you think I should try and pursue?"

"Honestly, and this is my professional medical opinion… who cares?" Kurama rolled his eyes.

"I say Princess Shuri, simply because you're strong and she's smart. Your child would be perfectly balanced," Gamora cackled.

"I say Barbara, I don't know… the way you described her reminds me of your mother," Minato explained.

"Damn, then it's a four-way deadlock," Naruto growled.

"Deadlock?" Kurama asked.

"I know you like Kara, he likes Barbara, she likes Shuri and I still have feelings for Hinata, so we're currently at a four-way deadlock."

* * *

"Do you have a child of your own, Gaara?" a young Gamora asked. She'd gotten tired of walking so Gaara had offered to carry her on his shoulders.

"No, I'm only nineteen."

"But you'd be so good at it… do you have a wife?"

"I'm only nineteen," he repeated.

"Then do you have a girlfriend?" she tapped his forehead as he walked.

"No, I've never had time for those tedious relationships," Gaara explained.

Gamora made a farting noise with her mouth, "You know I don't know what tedious means."

Suddenly she yanked on his hair, "Argh," he looked up at her, "What's wrong, little one?"

"What are those daddy?" she pointed forward.

"Don't say it like that," Gaara deadpanned. Gaara had to squint to see the horrendous four-armed monstrosities. There were hundreds. Each one as ugly as the last. They roared and hissed as they splashed through the water biting at air. They were heading straight for him and his little girl. He felt his back for his gourd… nothing. No sand.

"Let's go," Gaara turned to retreat.

"Can't you fight them?"

"Not without sand."

* * *

"We'll have to put this conversation on hold for now," Gamora said.

"Why is that?" Naruto asked. Gamora pointed at something. Kurama, hands in his pockets, looked back at whatever she was pointing at. Grotesque four-armed beasts were running over the horizon. They ran in a bird-like formation, they shifted to chase down the four desert wanderers.

"Let me handle this," Kurama grinned.

"We can both it," Naruto gently nudged Gamora behind him. Naruto tensed up but remembered something, "Oh yeah, you're not inside me."

"What the fuck?" Kurama cursed.

"Let's just get in there," Minato charged. He ran full speed at the approaching creatures. Kurama also ran towards the beasts. The demon enhanced both fellow combatants with his chakra. Naruto activated Kurama Tailed Beast Mode. Minato activated Kyuubi Chakra Mode, outran Naruto at the last minute (reminding the youngster that he's still a child to him in terms of speed) and jumped into the heart of the mob. Naruto assaulted the group from the front. Kurama punched his way through a couple toothy creatures. He bit one of them and threw them over the crowd.

"Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Naruto created two clones that helped him plough through the crowd. He made sure none of them made it past the real blonde. One of the four-armed creatures bit through one of Naruto's clones. The legitimate blonde elbowed that creature before kicking him to death, "Rasengan!" he tore through a few more creatures.

Minato zipped around cutting through fuckers with a simple Kurama-enhanced punch. He grabbed one of the creatures, lifted them up with a Rasengan and slammed them into another to create a vortex of bodies and chakra.

Kurama laughed as he came down for a spinning kick that knocked two creatures out, "How long has it been since I fought like this," he shouldered a creature into next week, "If only there was an infinite supply of these weak things."

One of them slipped past Naruto and began the run up the sand dune towards Gamora. She wrapped herself in her robes. Kurama jumped over the creatures and broke the alien's skull just as it was about to attack to elderly lady.

"Don't get killed," Kurama sneered.

"Sand!" Gaara shouted as he approached the desert at full speed. Gamora was clutching onto his red hair tightly. The Kazekage was flying over the water. The aliens were clawing at the air behind them.

"Looks like your lucky day, a hundred more are coming our way!" Naruto said looking at the horizon where he swore he'd seen water brushing up against the desert sands.

* * *

_Miss Martian vs Supergirl_

The two superheroines collided with the uninhabited Red Planet. Their momentum sent them deeper into the planet's crust. Miss Martian continually punched Supergirl as they went deeper and deeper. The duo flew through the planet and came out the other side. This time Supergirl was on top.

She punched M'gann so hard, she slammed into the planet. When Miss Martian looked up the blonde was gone.

"Behind you!" Supergirl had run around the entire planet. M'gann was kicked into Olympus Mons with so much force that the extinct volcano spewed tons of smoke into the thin atmosphere.

M'gann shot Supergirl through the smoke, nailing her in the chest with Martian beams. Miss Martian teleported to the blonde, picked her up by the legs and began swinging. She let go. Kara flew. M'gann nailed her with a couple more punches all whilst she was flying through the air. Kara flew into a mountain.

Megan landed. Supergirl cracked her neck.

"Kara, you're not in control of your mind at the moment," M'gann realised that there was no point in fighting Supergirl, she needed another way to end this, "You need to fight the voice in your head," she tried to convince the heroine to regain control of her own mind.

Kara's fists tightened, she was ready for round two.

"You're not mentally strong enough to fight mind control, I'll have to kill your controller for you," M'gann turned to fly away but Kara grabbed her cape and threw her down.

"No you don't," she growled. Megan's eyes went blue. Kara grabbed her face. Martian beams almost destroyed the Kryptonian's hand, "BITCH!" she cried. Miss Martian took to the skies. Supergirl rolled around holding her hand. She didn't have enough energy to pursue Miss Martian.

* * *

Ichigo appeared on the battlefield with Light and Rukia. "What? What happened to my clones?" Thanos asked the young king in front of him. T'Challa had no idea what was going on. The brown-haired mass murderer approached the muscular purple warlord.

"They're dying… all of them, and soon you'll be dead too, Thanos," Light made sure to emphasise the Mad Titan's name.

It took a while for Thanos to receive information from his dead clones. The data flowed through him. Light took a step back. The Titan wasn't evaporating or turning into dust. "So you wrote Thanos in that book of yours?"

Light took another step back. "I'm guessing it'd be unfortunate if my real name wasn't Thanos, then," Thanos approached. Thanos closed his left fist, "The assault continues," Thanos punched Light with his right fist, knocking the man to the floor. Ichigo jumped in to help. Another right hook. Rukia was stunned. Light was supposed to be her masterplan. Thanos backhanded her with his right hand.

The Mad Titan realised that he was in quite the predicament now. He was surrounded by the Avengers, the Justice League, Ben Ten, the adult Shinobi, and the Five Kage.

There was an explosion.

Miss Martian came down at the speed of sound to demolish Ebony Maw. Thanos turned to Black Dwarf who'd been webbed up and mangled by the partnership of Konohamaru and Spider-Man. Proxima Midnight had also been defeated and left on the brink of death by Hanabi, Nightwing, Robin and Batgirl.

"It's over Thanos," Tony's helmet retracted, "It's time to get your sack of chin out of here and retire to whatever dead planet you came from… but first we're gonna need those Stones."

Thanos looked up to the Eye in the Sky, "You know… a while back I noticed that there was an awfully irritating sound coming from that drone of yours. I used my Mind Stone and Soul Stone to trace the sound back to its source, and while you were all distracted I sent Corvus to go silence your helper, that's probably why she hasn't helped you in a while", Thanos explained while removing what remained of his armour.

T'Challa was the first to panic. Corvus' body was no longer on the battlefield, "Some… someone needs to go save my sister!" he exclaimed.

"Wally!" Batman cried. The injured youngster in yellow groggily got to his feet.

"I'm… I'm on it," his speed was below average, but he was still able to run up the cliff and into the forest.

Batman explained, "With Barry still out, Wally's our fastest speedster. He'll get there."

"Yes… lie. That's all the Demon with the Red Eyes said you heroes are good for. For now, you'll have to use your five senses to take on my six Stones," all six Infinity Stones blazed at the same time.

**Space and Reality Stones**

The waterfall opened up and the Dimension Stone flew closer. T'Challa's eyes were already fixated on the purple Deviant mutant. Tony went after the Stone. The goateed hero caught the Stone. T'Challa tackled Thanos, but the Mad Titan threw him off.

**Reality and Soul Stones**

Thanos turned the water droplets from the waterfall into bats that swarmed around the heroes. Batman jumped through the swarm, almost using each bat to get closer to the warlord. He held a bat-shaped blade in one hand.

**Time Stone**

Thanos froze Bruce, grabbed the sword and stabbed him in the stomach.

"Ah!" he groaned before turning into lightning. Thanos was electrocuted. A kunai flew through the bats. Thanos caught.

"Water Style: Water Dragon Projectile!" the giant blue serpent surged through the flying rats, using them as fuel to cause more destruction.

**Reality Stone**

Thanos turned the bats to water and encompassed the dragon in a casing of water. A larger, fiercer dragon charged in Kakashi's direction. Kakashi protected Batman using Susanoo's ribs.

Superboy went in for a punch.

**Space Stone**

The half-Kryptonian fell into a portal that opened above Dr Strange. Dr Strange opened a gateway that dropped Conner off in the forest.

**Reality and Soul Stones**

Thanos sensed Miss Martian's presence and used the Stones to make her visible and tangible. The green-skinned redhead didn't know how to react to being found out. Thanos backhanded her onto Gwen Tennyson who caught her on a pink platter.

"I've got this!" Ben yelled before slapping his Omnitrix, "XLR8!" he announced. The alien circled the Mad Titan.

"This is how I deal with speedsters!"

**Time Stone**

Thanos uppercut XLR8, punched him back to earth, then grabbed his face in one hand.

**Reality Stone**

Metal encircled the speedster's legs. Thanos used the alien as a shield to block Hawkeye's arrow then Green Arrow's arrow. He threw the young man away.

**Mind Stone**

Both marksmen were knocked unconscious. War Machine flew overhead.

**Power Stone**

Thanos used a simple shield to block the missiles as they fell from above. Thanos turned around. Cassie headbutted him into the cliff.

"So that's what Diana meant by use your head in tough situations," the blonde laughed.

Thanos looked up to see four figures coming down. Bruce, Dick, Barbara and Tim. Thanos hit Batman with a right hook. Nightwing wrapped Thanos' left hand up and nailed it to the cliff. Batman chucked a device to nail Thanos' right hand to the wall. Robin flung a robin-shaped device that exploded in front of the Mad Titan. It created a tight string that pulled Thanos' face closer to the floor exposing his back. Batgirl vaulted over Thanos and wrapped her legs around his neck. Black Panther came in and stabbed Thanos' neck with a vibranium blade.

"Tell your henchman to leave my sister alone! Tell him or I'll kill you!" the king commanded.

"If you kill me, he'll kill her", Thanos laughed through the pain, "Actually I ordered him to kill her nonetheless… it's nothing personal, my liege, but someone has to die before the culling begins," Thanos eyed the Dimension Stone.

T'Challa's hand began quivering. He growled behind the mask, "AHH! Why!" he bashed the Mad Titan, "Why?! Why?! Why do evil men like you exist?! What purpose do you serve?!" T'Challa broke down. Barbara fell off.

"My king, my king, stop!" Tony placed his hand on the Black Panther's shoulder.

"I… I'm… I'm necessary evil," Thanos' eyes closed.

* * *

"It's Gaara!" Naruto's voice was full of pleasure. He hadn't actually seen the Kazekage, but he saw the moulding of sand destroy an entire fleet of aliens in seconds. Gaara was scarily strong. With a couple of flicks of his wrist, hundreds of creatures were buried in sand that exploded around them.

"Hold on kid," he growled. A sandy figure protected him as he rose over the herd of aliens, "Kuraru's Will!" he knocked them around like they were toys.

"Gaara!" Naruto waved.

"Naruto?" Gaara smirked. He lowered himself to the blonde's height, "How did you end up here?"

"Same way you did, but at least I found some counterparts," Naruto pointed to the Fox and Minato.

"Hey, since we're all here how bout I get us out," Minato clapped.

"Gamora," the young Gamora reached out for her older counterpart, ignoring the Hokage.

"What's wrong, little one?" Gaara gently placed the child on the desert sand before creating a pair of sand hands that protected all of them from the aliens outside. The creatures clawed and bit at the sand as they climbed around it.

"This is the younger me I was looking for," the elderly woman crouched down to the toddler's level.

"How do we get out?"

"How do we fuse?" the older green lady scratched her head.

"You don't have to fuse," Minato stated.

"Why's that?" little Gamora asked.

"My Flying Raijin transcends the barrier between dimensions… I can get us out of here," he explained.

"Why… why didn't you tell us earlier?" Naruto asked.

"Are you fucking serious?" the Hokage swore.

"What will happen to us if we don't fuse?" the Gamoras asked.

"… You'll never know until you try," Minato shrugged.

"The Fourth Hokage's philosophy, ladies and gentlemen," Kurama growled.

"Naruto, now that you have the physical half of Kurama, someday your mom will visit you when you seem to be struggling… and thanks to that physical half of the fox she'll be able to give you a gift. My gifts are these three-pronged kunai knives with your name of them. The key to the Flying Thunder God lives within these kunai, I know that you won't need me to teach it to you," Naruto obtained the three blades.

"What will happen to you, Kurama," Naruto asked holding the knives tightly.

"Before you got here I was a giant fox, when you appeared I was a pubescent human, I'm guessing that without you I'll return to my more menacing state… that or I'll return to your mind Kit."

"How long have you been in this dimension?" Naruto asked.

"I woke up here, but ever since Thanos' arrival I've been in a weird purgatory between this world and your mind, which is why it takes so long for my chakra to transfer to you, my guess is that when you leave I'll return to the purgatory, and when you kill Thanos I'll return to your mindscape… but as your precious Fourth Hokage says "You'll never know until you try"."

"Tou-chan… let's get outta here," Naruto grinned.

Minato nodded before telling them all to grab onto his body. They followed his instructions. He weaved some handsigns before whispering, "Flying Raijin Level 3."

Everyone disappeared, including Minato. The creatures fell onto a pile of sand. The Dimension went quiet.

* * *

Groot chopped off his own arm. He sacrificed a piece of himself to finish off Thor's new weapon. A large woodcutter axe that had been dubbed 'Stormbreaker'. As the axe came down with a thud, sparks of lightning began to form around it. Everyone turned to the God of Thunder, who was lying face down on the steel after taking the full force of a star.

No one spoke. They stood in silence waiting for signs of life… Thor's hand opened up. Lightning flowed from him to the axe. The axe began to levitate.

* * *

"Guys! Something just exploded in the village," she tried to connect to the battlefield, but her connection was being interrupted. She threw open a window to see what had impacted the little city. A meteorite had collided with the farthest side of the village taking out a quarter the village. The village, which had already seen destruction thanks to Lord Pain in the past, now had a second crater surrounded by rubble on the far side.

She was lucky to be situated in Naruto's Namikaze Compound which was located on the outskirts of the village. The African princess dragged her mobile chair across the clustered room to her computers, "Can anyone hear me?"

She rolled over to the door, this time sticking her body out the portal to check on her satellite dish. It had been destroyed, "Shit," she was prepared to grab her tools.

"There's no point," a voice called. She looked at the fountain, "That's already been won," a tall, pale and ugly humanoid grinned as he approached.

"I'm guessing you're not the victory party," she joked… Shuri quickly ran back into the building. Corvus laughed as he entered the building. Shuri shot at him with a repulsive grenade. He broke through the door.

"You really are a little brat!" Corvus growled, trying to get up.

"Where is it? Where is it?" Shuri searched through the mess for a small piece of equipment that could get her out of this quandary. Corvus broke through the door as Shuri rolled under a table, "There you are," she placed her hand on a small panther-shaped instrument. Corvus destroyed the table she was hiding under with one swift sceptre swing. He nailed her in the lower spine.

Shuri was struggling to breathe, let alone move.

"You were a brat, and now… you're a dead brat… equally as useless," as he was walking out he set the timer on a bomb to five seconds, threw it into the building and walked out.

"Dipshit!" Wally raced into the Compound and stopped in front of Corvus, "You've los-," the building behind the alien violently ripped apart as an explosion devastated the Main Namikaze Manor.

Wally couldn't believe what he was seeing, "What? What have you done? Where's Shuri?!"

"Our Master was getting tired of her calling all the shots, so I had to snuff her flame… excuse the puuuu-," a bandaged fist ripped through humanoid's stomach. Corvus looked up to skies and collapsed in front of the speedster.

"Naruto? I-I tried," Wally breathed.

"It's okay… I tried too," Naruto looked into the blaze before turning into smoke.

The real Naruto leapt out of the fire and rested the unconscious woman on the ground. The panther-shaped device on her chest began to glow. The short-haired blonde placed his hands on her chest and commenced with performing chest compressions to try put some life back into her lungs. Purple hexagons expanded across her chest from the instrument.

Naruto lifted Shuri's chin before attempting mouth-to-mouth. Wally zipped over to the duo.

"Is she okay?" Wally asked… "Really?" the youngster folded his arms when the mouth-to mouth turned into a passionate kiss. Shuri placed her tiny hands on Naruto's chin. Naruto lowered his large hands to Shuri's armoured waist. The kissing only ceased when both parties needed a breath of fresh air. Shuri's suit covered her face at that point.

Naruto looked up at Wally, "I guess we just found out who's faster."

"Shut up, I'm injured… where'd you even come from?"

"I just learned a technique that allows me to travel through space and time, transporting me to wherever my name is written. I instantly decided to come check up on you," Naruto told Shuri.

"You know; I didn't really need that mouth-to-mouth, Just Uzumaki," Shuri sat up.

"But I did."

"Are you okay to fight?" Wally asked.

"My back is a little fucked… but the suit has healing abilities," Shuri explained.

"Come on, I'll take you to the battlefield," Wally lifted the woman into a bridal carry.

"Hold this," Naruto gave the woman a three-pronged kunai, "When you get to the battlefield, throw it at the bad guy, dattebayo."

Wally disappeared with Shuri in his arms.

* * *

There was an explosion in the distance. T'Challa heard it. Tony heard it. Thanos was waiting for it. Upon hearing the faint eruption, he smirked, "She's… she's gone."

"I'll kill you myself!" T'Challa hammered at the Mad Titan's head.

"T'Challa! NO!" Tony tried to calm the man. Thanos' left fist closed.

**Power Stone**

The fighters had given him enough time to muster up the strength to destroy the weapons holding him back. Thanos backhanded both Tony and T'Challa. He placed his hand on the king's head, "Don't worry… I too lost an important family member."

**Space Stone**

The Dimension Stone flew into Thanos' hands.

"Instant Transmission!" Gogeta magically appeared in front of Thanos. An upwards kick lifted Thanos a bit. He made a fist.

**Time Stone**

Thanos slapped Gogeta into the ground. Supergirl came down and charged into the Mad Titan.

**Space Stone**

She flew right through him. Wonder Woman had finally managed to free Clark from his kryptonite prison. He was struggling to catch his breath but his eyes were fixated on Thanos, "I'll… I'll h… I'll have to cut him down," he tried to get up. Wonder Woman caught him before he could collapse.

Thanos felt his forehead. He was bleeding profusely. He needed to end the battle quickly, "Where's the Stone?" he realised he wasn't holding the little rock anymore.

A giant rainbow-coloured column came down from the heavens. The battles stopped. Everyone waited to see what the giant energy pillar held in store. The giant beam destroyed grass, rocks and everything else it touched as it spread.

"He's here," Mantis felt it.

The column died leaving a blanket of clouds and dust. Three silhouettes appeared. One was skinny and built like a tree, the other was muscular and manly whilst the last one looked like a raccoon straddling the burlier man's shoulder. The dust spread to reveal Thor, in all his awesomeness. He stared intently at Thanos who was about to pay for all his past crimes.

"BRING ME THANOS!" the God of Thunder roared as he advanced at full speed.

"Who does-?" Gogeta questioned.

"- this guy-?" Superman looked up.

"- think he is?" Wonder Woman finished the question off.

Thanos prepared his Gauntlet. He knew that in his current state, he needed to use all six Stones to fend off the god's next attack. His heart sank into his stomach. Something big was coming.

The sand behind the Mad Titan exploded. Gaara assisted the Norse by the weaving an intricate sand structure around Thanos that constricted his body while keeping his left hand open.

Shuri tossed a kunai that allowed Naruto to manipulate space and time and wrap his arms around Thanos' neck. The Titan choked.

"Stop him from closing his fist!" Dr Strange initiated the final attack with his Cloak of Levitation. Everyone rushed forward to hold him down. Others, for a lack of space, helped keep other heroes from being thrown away by the Madman's brute strength.

Thor flew into the air. Everything went dark blue. Lightning came down from the sky to swarm around the god. He pulled Stormbreaker back before flinging it at full power. The axe rotated multiple times before striking Thanos in the centre of the chest.

Perfect.

Thor landed in front of the weakened Eternal as the heroes fell back in exhaustion. It was done. Thanos' Infinity Stones shut down. Large pieces of the moon rose into the sky and reformed into the lunar satellite. The damage they dealt remained though, and the gravity was still a little messed up. Thanos was breathing heavily. His quest had come to an end.

Thor placed one hand on Thanos' ear and the other on Stormbreaker's blunt end, "I told you 'You'd die for that'," Thor gloated, "Do you have any last words, Monster?"

"No-no you… you should've ended my suffering… you… you should've… you should've gone for the head," Thanos didn't need to close his fist this time. He just needed two fingers.

**SNAP!**

"NO!" Thor could nothing but watch.

* * *

**(A/N) I realise that in Infinity War, the ending came as a surprise to everyone which was what made it so epic and heart-breaking. I don't have the luxury of surprising considering how most of you probably already realised that in the end Thanos would win, but with this being the final chapter I'd just like to say thank you for reading this fanfiction. There's been a lot of ups and downs so for you to follow up until this point really does put a smile on my face, so thank you and I hope you enjoyed this chapter.**

* * *

Thanos awoke in an all too familiar orange plain. He was standing in shallow water. The wound on his chest was gone, and so was the Infinity Gauntlet.

The world darkened.

A pair of red eyes appeared behind the Titan as he struggled to breathe, "Never have I seen someone fight like you. You remind me of myself in my youth," the deep voice said ominously.

"Have I… have I earned your mercy?"

"Do you have possession of the Code?" the voice asked.

Thanos looked at his left hand, "Yes, you were right. The Code lies within the minds of dying humans as they turn to dust."

"Ah yes, bring it to me immediately. You have earned your life, Dione."

"Thank you…" Thanos looked up at the orange sunset on the watery horizon. When the Soul Dimension livened up again he stopped to think to himself… _"What did it cost?"_

* * *

**PERFECTLY BALANCED**

**CHAPTER TWELVE**

**Prologue To Darkseid of the Moon**

* * *

"What did you do?" Thor asked. He looked around. Nothing had happened, "MORON! WHAT DID YOU DO?!"

Thanos returned to the real world. His Gauntlet was fried and the Stones were barely hanging onto the metal. His arm was damaged too, and basically his entire left side was going numb. Using each Stone individually drained him of so much energy, using all six Stones at the same time was almost suicide. Thanos had just enough juice in the Gauntlet to do two more things though.

**Space Stone**

Without moving, Thanos carried the rainbow-coloured Dimension Stone from the ground into his right hand. His left arm began to hang at his side. He didn't want to stay around for much longer. He _couldn't _stay around for much longer.

His injuries didn't stop him from having a quick monologue though as the first six Gems glowed at the same time, "No one is safe from my wrath anymore. Katniss Everdeen, Ryu, Ken, Master Chief, Jimin, Mario. Regardless of the universe, regardless of social status, regardless of who you are, regardless of the fandom. With this final Stone I place everyone at my mercy," Thanos slot the last Stone in. Thor stood there trying to contemplate what on earth was going on. When he finally got the idea to launch another attack it was too late.

**Power-Space-Reality-Soul-Time-Mind-Dimension Stone**

Thanos collapsed into his portal as Stormbreaker fell away from his armour. He was gone.

"Why didn't you hit him?" Kakashi asked. Thor didn't know what to say.

"Did the good guys just lose?" Thor wondered picking up the bloodied axe.

"I think we did more than lose," everyone turned to Konohamaru. The young Sarutobi was staring at his hands. He looked up at Naruto. The blonde's nightmares turned to reality. Suddenly Konohamaru broke apart into little pieces of dust. Naruto lunged to save him but the kid was gone. His ashes collapsed into a dry mess.

"What? What the hell is going on, dattebayo," Naruto grabbed his student's ashes.

"Ah no!" Neji sulked, "Here I was thinking I'd escaped canon," the Hyuuga slowly turned to dust and floated away.

"NEJI!" Hinata rushed to her cousin's side. She watched on in horror.

"Babe," Kiba muttered. Hinata looked over her shoulder. In seconds, Kiba had turned to dust too.

"Oh no, I don't feel so good either," Peter limped to his feet.

"Don't worry," Dr Strange ended his panic, "Only people from this universe are effected by Thanos' snap."

"You knew," Naruto, with bloodshot eyes, picked Dr Strange up by the collar, "You knew this was going to happen, didn't you?! And you came to our universe anyway."

"Stephen, did you know?" Tony's helmet retracted.

Dr Strange swallowed hard, "I put the Stone in this universe, because we needed all the heroes alive. It had to be done, Tony."

Shino grabbed Hinata's shoulder, "I'm sorry Hina-chan, at least you can't forget about me anymore," Shino smiled as he turned to dust. Hinata grabbed her head and collapsed as her three closest friends died around her.

Kankuro turned to Gaara and then to his older sister. The redhead's eyes widened as his only brother began to crack and fade away, "No," he muttered. A single tear rolled down his cheek.

"Honestly, it was about time," Chouji accepted it, he sat down and vanished right in front of everyone's eyes. Who was going to tell Karui?

"Gohan!" the half-Saiyan turned to Krillin, who'd started the vanishing process. Yamcha was not too far behind him. They were both fading away, "Do me a favour and tell 18 I'll be back, and find those Dragon Balls for us, okay."

On Dragon Ball earth, people and aliens alike had begun disappearing and floating away. The seven Dragon Balls turned grey as they too turned to dust and faded away. Krillin and Yamcha weren't coming back any time soon.

"Ash! Tell the ladies I love them," Brock teared up as he began turning to dust. He floated away with the wind. His Poké balls landed on his ashes. One of Ash's balls started lighting up. Charizard, who'd recently been returned to his former glory, escaped his ball and looked back at his trainer.

"Pokémon too?" the ten-year-old wondered. His question was answered by Charizard fading from existence.

To Rukia's misfortune, Byakuya wouldn't be there to greet her upon her return (Along with billions of others who were being taken away by the universal culling).

In a distant world on a cold Russian night, two figures were engaging in a friendly ice-skating challenge that turned into a mixture of competitive skating and an aggressive couples' skate. The silver-haired man pushed his brown-haired partner faster before skating up to his side. The brown-haired man gracefully leapt into the air, spun twice before hitting the ground and skating backwards. Yuri slouched to increase speed. He gave his partner a nod. Victor blushed. He nodded back. Yuri grabbed Victor's hand. He let his body go limp, allowing Yuri to take over. In a matter of seconds they were spinning through their air.

"Yuri…" Victor muttered with eyes closed, "I-," they both hit the ice hard and scattered as flakes of dust. They were both gone.

Dr Strange looked back at Naruto, "But we all saw how badly damaged his Gauntlet was, he won't be using that arm any time soon either… perhaps we could-,"

"No!" Naruto shouted.

"Excuse me?" Dr Strange asked.

"I invite you to my universe, and help you tackle your biggest enemy, so you decide to reward me by killing my men?!" Naruto's fists clenched, "GET OUT! Get out of this universe! NOW!" he turned to walk away.

Tony and Strange turned to Kakashi who just shrugged.

"ALL OF YOU! LEAVE! NEVER COME BACK TO THIS UNIVERSE!" Naruto yelled. He furiously marched over to Shuri. Naruto took his technological shirt off and threw it at her, "JUST GO!" he slipped into a Flying Thunder God portal.

Kakashi sighed to try and relieve the pressure, "I think it's best if you guys pack all your stuff and get going."

Thor was still staring at the space in front of him. He tightened his grip on Stormbreaker. All he had to do was pick it up and drill it into Thanos' head when he had the chance. In fact, he didn't even need to aim for the head the second time. No matter how godly Thanos was, two strikes to the chest would've killed literally anyone.

"I didn't react fast enough," Thor mumbled.

"Let's… let's just go," Clark sighed

* * *

_Unknown Time – Unknown Place in the DC Universe_

Thanos flopped through the portal and landed on a cold steel surface. He was gasping for air and struggling to breathe. A pair of fiery red eyes mercilessly watched from above.

"Do you have it?" the eyes asked.

"Yes," Thanos lifted his Gauntlet to the taller figure. Golden symbols appeared around the Titan's distorted Glove. The Demon with the Red Eyes grabbed the symbols and pressed them against His forehead. He then lifted Thanos to his feet, "Thank you Master," Thanos wrapped his only well-functioning arm around the mysterious being.

"Return to your farm."

The figure began walking towards the spaceship's glass window. He read through the final code.

**Loneliness, plus Alienation, plus Fear, plus Despair, plus Self-Worth, divided by Mockery, divided by Condemnation, divided by Misunderstanding, multiplied by Guilt, multiplied by Shame, multiplied by Failure, multiplied by Judgement. N = Y where Y = Hope and N = Folly.**

**Love = Lies**

**Life = Death**

**Self = DARKSEID**

The New God sauntered out into the light. All he needed to do was broadcast that Equation across the internet, across all universes, and all free will would belong to him. The end had begun.

* * *

_Sunset – Destroyed Ruins of the Namikaze Main Manor_

Naruto was sitting on a large slab of concrete. Glaive had blown up the Compound in an attempt to kill Shuri. The princess was saved but Naruto's heirloom was not. He still had ten other houses, but this house had all his clothes and all his special trinkets in it.

Something crackled behind the blonde. He looked over his shoulder, "Oh… I thought you'd left already."

"We are leaving in a couple of minutes," T'Challa said with his mesmerising African accent, "I just came here to give you this," the king held his hand out. The blonde accepted the gift. It was a shard of black rock that fit in the future Kage's palm.

"Thank you, Your Highness… but what do I do with this?"

"In its current state, not much… maybe throw it at a few enemies," T'Challa laughed, "It's Vibranium, the strongest metal on our planet. It's what my suit is made of… it's what was powering your black shirt."

"Hey… can I ask you something?" Naruto turned on his slab.

"If it's about your people I had no idea Dr Strange was planning to sacrifice them, I would've stopped him if I knew," T'Challa explained.

"No, it's actually about your sister."

"What did she do this time?"

"No, it's what _I_ didn't do. It's what I'm not sure if I should do," Naruto said.

"… Are you saying what I think you're saying?"

Naruto stood, "I don't know. Throughout the battle I was trying to balance fighting and thinking. I'm stuck between four women, your sister being one of them. But who's a better person to ask, then the brother of the bride?"

"Bride?!"

"No I mean…" Naruto was tired, "What should I do, my King?"

T'Challa tapped Naruto's chest, "Don't use your head. If you overthink it, it won't end well. Basically, love is the only time when using your heart and instincts is a lot more effective than using your brain."

"… Um… thanks."

"So, just make a decision now, and go after her… but if it's my sister I'll have to let you know, she's only seventeen and whatever you do to her, I'll do to you tenfold."

Naruto nodded in fear.

"Good, now run!"

Naruto blitzed away.

* * *

_Minutes Later – Portal Outside Konoha_

"Okay, let's make sure everyone is accounted for," Dr Strange said holding a list of people who had crossed into the anime dimension. The X-Men had already entered the portal and returned to their universe. Captain America's nomads had followed behind them. Tony wanted to give them a head-start so he didn't have to arrest them when they got to the Marvel world.

"Tony, can you make sure all your Avengers enter my portal," Strange gave Tony the clipboard and a pencil.

"Uh sure," the man in a suit limped to the sparkly, rotating gateway, "Okay, let's get going. Bruce, Peter, Thor, Star Lord and your Galaxy Guardians, T'Challa, Shuri…" the duo didn't walk past the billionaire so he repeated, "T'Challa… Shuri."

The beautiful African princess was standing in the darkness with arms folded. T'Challa was standing in front of her trying to explain something to her. Tony didn't really care, he just wanted to return to his universe so we threw the clipboard at Dr Strange and sauntered into the portal.

"He's not coming."

"I'm not waiting for anyone, I'm just going to miss this world, stupid," Shuri punched her brother's arm. The cold breeze raised goosebumps on her skin, she quickly warmed her arms up by rubbing them.

"This world is not ours, if Naruto wants to date his universe's women, then let him," T'Challa looked over to Kara who wasn't really as fazed as Shuri was, "Come, when we get to Wakanda, I'll buy you some ice-cream," the king fixed his sister's outfit before escorting her into the doorway.

"It's time to get going," Bruce Wayne said as he entered the portal. Following behind him were Diana Prince, Barry Allen, Hal Jordan, Cyborg, and the teenage participants of Young Justice. Clark motioned for Kara to enter.

"I know you hate losing Kara, but staying in this universe won't bring Thanos back. Now let's go before we start disappearing too," Kal-El joked.

"Yeah, let's-," space-time warped behind the blonde woman. Naruto reached out and grabbed her hand. Kara froze. Kal-El already had half of his body in the entryway. He looked back and watched Naruto grab his cousin's hips and bring her close.

"Um… oh. I'll just," he slipped away.

"Kara, I choose you. I want you to stay in this universe, and I want us to start a family together and everything. I want you," Naruto passionately whispered. Kara's pink lips were an inch away from his as he mumbled affectionately. He had her in his arms and he didn't want to let go. Until she took a step back.

"I'd love to stay Naruto, and I'd love to love you. But the promises I made were under a false pretence. I thought Thanos would be dead and the multiverse would be saved, but I was wrong, and my universe needs me now more than ever. You have beautiful spinsters in your universe, open your eyes and love them as much you've loved me, as much as Shuri loved you," Kara winked.

Dr Strange peeked through the portal, "I've gotta close this thing, you coming or not?"

"I'm coming," Kara reached into her pocket, "But here, we can use this to keep in touch," she handed the blonde a phone and a charger before entering the next universe. The portal died.

Naruto stood there in the total darkness thinking about what just happened.

Kurama cleared his throat**, "Can I give the reader a little insight and tell them that the reason you took so long to get here was because you were telling Hinata that you'd chosen Kara over her?"**

Naruto sighed, "Yeah."

"… **Can I also tell the reader that you went from juggling three girls to standing in a clearing with none?"**

"I think they already realised that."

"**Can I tell the reader that if you worried more about Thanos than you did about women, then you might've saved Ko-,"**

"How about you shut up, dattebayo."

* * *

_Sunrise – Another Universe_

Armour down. Gauntlet off. Helmet put away. Dione agonisingly limped towards his resting place. He grabbed a cold beer with his right hand as he walked over to his seat at what felt like the edge of the universe. He pulled on his jeans as he placed himself on the chair and looked forward to think about what he'd done. He'd saved his life… but at what cost?

"Daughter?" he put the can down next to his chair when he saw the green-skinned walk out over the fields towards him.

"You were willing to sacrifice me for your mission?"

"… How… how did you-?"

Gamora stood there in tears. Thanos got up, walked over to his favourite, and (with Nebula's disappearance) only, child, and smothered her with his huge right arm.

"I'll never do anything to put you in harm's way ever again… we're safe now, little one."

* * *

**So yeah, the reason this story was rather short was because it's just one long prologue to the main story I had in mind. Darkseid of the Moon. I know most of you wanted some harems maybe I needed Naruto to end up alone in this one to springboard him into the next story. If you're reading this I've probably already started working on the next part of this, but feel free to review this story and tell me what you thought about it. What was the favourite part? Least favourite part? What can I do to make the next story better? (Remember, I can't cater to everyone's opinion because at the end of the day it's still my story) And tell me what you think about making Darkseid the final big bad guy. Anyway, for the last time in this story. Goodbye.**


End file.
